Author: J. C. Diem
Date: 2013-08-01T18:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Vampires; Romance; Fantasy
Description: From the moment she’d been turned into Mortis, Natalie Pierce had been fated to come face to face with the first vampire ever created. Hideously transformed over thousands of years by the diseased blood that runs through his veins, the First had created an army of grey skinned imps. His plan is to enslave humanity and to turn them into a vast herd of cattle to feed his offspring. Nat and her friends are all that stands between the humans and the bat faced, orange eyed imps. Aside from the overwhelming odds against them, Natalie foresaw an even bigger danger. As vampires, they were all highly s
Publisher: CreateSpace Publishing

Death Deceives

J.C. Diem

Copyright 2013 J.C. Diem

All rights reserved.

Amazon Kindle Edition, License Notes: This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be copied, resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

Cover art: J.C. Diem

Images: ©Veronika Vasilyuk - Dreamstime.com

© Loraliu - Dreamstime.com

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter One

Standing in the doorway of our new safe-house, I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that I was being watched. A glance up and down the unfamiliar hallway confirmed that I was alone. You’re just jumpy because you’ll probably all be dead soon, my subconscious told me sourly.

Being hunted by seven foot tall grey imps was definitely making me edgy. My friends and I would face the leader of the imps one day soon and I had a feeling the meeting wouldn’t go well for us. My subconscious had already made the assumption that none of us would make it out unalive. Somewhere deep inside, I kind of agreed with it.

Taking one last look at the deserted yard, I shut the door. I’d only taken a cursory look at the farmhouse as Luc and I had arrived, enough to know that it was two stories high and was made of a combination of brick and wood.

While it was fairly nondescript from the exterior, the interior was a different story. Inside, it was just plain ugly. A long corridor stretched ahead of me with a pair of doors on each side. Prints of sunflowers hung at regular intervals on the walls. I’d never liked sunflowers, either the real thing or pictures of them. No flower should be that big, it was unnatural.

As if the hideous sunflower prints weren’t already enough to condemn the house to ugliness, the colour scheme was awful. The walls were lime green and the carpet was a now faded orange that might have been bright enough to sear the eyeballs when it had been new. I thought the French had better taste than this. Evidently, the décor hadn’t been updated in several decades.

It was automatic for me to lock the door before moving deeper into the house. I didn’t know why I bothered since any imp or vampire could knock it down with one hand. It was a habit that was left over from when I’d still been human. Since I’d only been undead for about six months or so, I did actually manage to still feel human sometimes. The rest of the time I felt exactly like what I was, an unholy monster that drank human blood to survive.

Catching sight of my four shadows trailing behind me, I held in a shudder that would have wracked me from head to toe if I’d let it escape. No wonder I feel like I’m being watched. I had three shadows too many and I was beginning to feel crowded inside my own skin.

Simply being turned into a vampire hadn’t been enough for me. I, Natalie Pierce had been fated for much worse than that. I was Mortis, which was Latin for death. It was poetic somehow to be named ‘death’ by a language that itself was also dead.

It had been prophesized long ago that I would be both the bane and saviour of vampirekind. Having a prophecy written about me was proving to be far less exciting than I’d thought. Everyone had expectations of me and most of the time I wasn’t sure I even qualified for the job. Having that kind of pressure hanging over my head made me nervous.

I’d read the prophecy and it hadn’t mentioned my entourage of shadows. Being a creature of legend, it seemed the normal rules didn’t apply to me. Ingesting the blood of our kin was supposed to kill us but I hadn’t been so lucky. With each infusion of the diseased black ooze that passed for our blood, I’d changed in different ways. The first taste had turned me into the undead. The second time I hadn’t actually ingested the gunk. It had been delivered directly to my heart via a knife wound in my chest and had given me the ability to heal much faster than normal. The third taste had made me ultra-quick and even stronger than I’d already been.

Consequently, I was a faster, more powerful, un-killable killing machine who could heal most wounds almost instantly. You’d think the benefits would be worth the pain I’d gone through but I was still doubtful on that topic. One thing was certain, it wasn’t much fun being the strangest of all the monsters in the world.

Speaking of being strange, the fourth time I’d tasted vampire blood, it hadn’t given me new powers or changed me physically. The transfer of fluids had happened when I’d accidentally bitten Luc during one of our naked romps together. I’d been sucked into his memories and had witnessed the most painful moments of his lengthy unlife.

“Natalie,” Geordie yelled, rousing me from my gloomy thoughts. “Get your butt in here!”

A staircase at the far end of the hallway led upwards to the lightless and gloomy second floor but I ignored it for now. Arrowing towards the quiet sounds of conversation, I pushed open a door to the left and found myself in a living room. The colour scheme wasn’t quite as bad in here with pale peach carpet and urine yellow wallpaper.

Two couches sat facing each other across a battered pine coffee table. Most of the furniture in the room had seen better days. The muddy brown fabric on the couch appeared to be velvet. It was worn and threadbare so it was difficult to tell for sure.

Luc, the love of my unlife, patted the empty seat beside him in invitation. Geordie pouted when I accepted. Sitting on the couch directly opposite from me, his lower lip pooched out slightly with his disappointment.

Luc, or Lord Lucentio as he was known by most European vampires, was around thirty in mortal years. He was Italian, six feet tall, had black hair, was broodingly handsome and had a body most women would drool over. Like all vampires over three hundred, his pupils had grown large enough to take over the irises completely. I had no idea what colour his eyes had been before he’d been turned. As hard as it was to believe, seven hundred years had passed since the night his life had ended and his unlife had begun.

Geordie had been about fifteen when he’d been turned and would remain a teenager forever. His hair was dirty blonde and had a habit of falling into his eyes. His pupils hadn’t grown to their maximum size yet and a faint ring of blue still showed around the edges. The teen was only a couple of inches taller than my average five feet four inches and he wasn’t much bigger than me across the shoulders. He was only two hundred, practically still a baby. The two men, and I struggled to include Geordie in that category, were opposites in every way. It was both amusing and annoying having the teen lusting after me.

Boy, you really have tickets on yourself, my subconscious stated sarcastically. I had a hate-hate relationship with my subconscious. It constantly made fun of me, deflated my ego and told me things that I didn’t want to hear. In this case it was right, as usual. As a human, I’d been fairly average; twenty-eight years old, a slender Australian size eight and had been mildly pretty at best. Only as a vampire had I gained any real beauty. Even so, I’d seen vamps that were far more attractive than I was. While my hair, just past shoulder length, dark brown with blonde highlights, remained the same, my face and body had undergone a few subtle alterations. I was now more than mildly pretty. Human men swooned at the sight of me to the point of embarrassment. Vampires still tended to be fairly underwhelmed by me most of the time. Luc seemed to find me attractive enough but he’d been willing to do the naked mambo with me even before I’d been transformed into my current state of unholy loveliness.

Geordie’s persistent crush on me probably stemmed more from the fact that I was a commoner rather than one of the snobby courtiers he was used to seeing every day. If that wasn’t the reason he wanted to jump me then I was stumped as to why he found me attractive. Maybe because you could be intellectual twins, my subconscious offered. That was its way of telling me I could still be childish at times. It was difficult to argue with the truth.

“We should be safe on this farm, for a while,” Gregor said, taking the remaining vacant seat on the couch beside Geordie.

I wasn’t sure how old Gregor was in actual years but he’d have been in his forties when he’d been turned. He was the most urbane vampire I’d met and had a pretty decent library at his mansion in the UK. A mane of dark blonde hair framed his ruggedly handsome face.

I bet he wouldn’t have any trouble finding a meal, I mused. All vampires had their tricks to lure humans in. Some had enhanced beauty, like me, and others had stealth and cunning. My maker, Silvius, could trick humans into thinking he was a harmless, excessively wrinkled old man. That was how the bald old freak had nabbed me. Gregor had a nicely balanced blend of charm, good looks and cunning.

“But how long will we remain safe?” Igor asked. He straddled a creaky kitchen chair that had been turned around the wrong way and leaned his arms against the back. “The grey monsters will find us again soon enough.” His expression was dour to match his tone.

Grizzled and not the least bit handsome, Igor was an enigma to me. He was Russian, of unknown age and was good friends with Luc. Coarse black hair that refused to be tamed fell over his forehead and stopped just above his eyes. If someone put a gun to my head and forced me to guess, I’d say he would have been about fifty when he’d been turned. Like Geordie, he wore rough woollen pants and jacket and an off white shirt most of the time. He’d be able to blend in with any farming community easily but would have trouble fitting into any other setting. He served as a chauffeur to the Court but was comfortable lounging around with a pair of lords. Not that Luc or Gregor looked much like lords at the moment. Their fine clothing was tattered and stained from our recent battle with the ‘grey monsters’.

“Can you sense them, Natalie?” Luc asked as I settled beside him. The couch springs had sprung and poked into my butt uncomfortably. Since no one else was complaining about the crappy furniture, I kept my wisecracks to myself. I placed the backpack that I rarely let out of my sight on the floor by my feet. It contained everything I owned in the world, which was pretty pathetic when I thought about it. Once upon a time I’d had a job, an apartment and an actual wardrobe full of clothes from my store. Yep, I’d been a clothing store manager in my previous life. That was all gone now and my life would never be the same again.

Luc raised an eyebrow impatiently, reminding me that he’d just asked me a question. I’d been following their conversation remotely, hearing the words without really listening to them.

I’d have preferred to take a shower to wash the ooze off before launching into a detailed discussion about our circumstances. Black ichor-like blood was in my hair and coated both my skin and black leather suit. Two more skin tight suits just like it were stashed in my backpack. Emperor Ishida, leader of the Japanese vampire nation, had given them to me when I’d joined their ranks for four months to learn how to fight like their best warriors.

A fourth suit, in blood red, was still waiting to be worn. Ishida had given it to me as a reward for cleansing the Japanese vamps of their damned. I’d only don that particular suit when it was time to face my ultimate foe. That reminded me of what I was supposed to be sensing. “I’ll just check.” Closing my eyes, I leaned against Luc. His arm slid across my shoulder and pulled me to his side. Sending out my senses, I detected no other living or unliving creatures nearby. “I don’t sense any imps at the moment.”

The only creatures I could sense in this fashion were imps and vampires. Humans, animals and insects were immune to my mental probe. I had the vague idea that I could sense our kin and the imps because we shared the same diseased blood. While I’d diligently read the prophecy about myself, it hadn’t been very forthcoming with the powers I’d end up with. Only some of what I could do had been written down. Maybe the Romanian prophet thought it would be wise to keep the knowledge to himself so the vampire population wouldn’t freak out. Maybe he hadn’t known just how weird I’d turn out. It occurred to me that the powers that be might be screwing with us all by not telling us everything.

Geordie pulled in his bottom lip long enough to make a snide comment at my remark. “That doesn’t mean anything. The First can mask his offspring from you somehow. We’ll probably be surrounded when the sun comes up and killed in our sleep.” He shrivelled against the withering looks we all sent him. “I’m just saying what we’re all thinking,” the kid whined defensively.

The First was just that, the first human to be turned into a vampire. He’d made a deal with a dying alien demi-god, our father, fifty thousand years ago for eternal life. What he hadn’t bargained on was the alien’s diseased blood changing us so that our shadows eventually became sentient.

Over tens of thousands of years, our father’s blood gained ascendency and eventually took control of the First’s vampire body. Then the First had somehow evolved into a replica of the one who had created us. With this change, he’d become alive again and had also gained the power to convert all vampires into clones of himself.

I had no idea why he’d waited until now to start transforming his offspring into their new forms. Maybe he was ruled by fate and had to wait for me to rise as Mortis before embarking on his mad plan for world domination. According to Kokoro, the Japanese vampire prophetess, no one could escape from our fate. Maybe the First was also inhibited by the same rules that we were. If so, then it gave us at least a fighting chance against him.

I’d had several visions of the First but had yet to meet the creature in person. In my dreams he was about eight feet tall, had ashy skin and the face of a bat. In the same dreams, I’d witnessed him calling forth a band of possessed vampires and turning them into clones of himself. The imp clones were smaller, only seven feet tall and their skin was a slightly darker grey than his. Their heads were the same as his; bald and batlike with a rudimentary up-turned nose, large fangs, forked tongues and long ears that curled at the tips. To me they looked like something that had crawled straight out of hell, hence the reason why I called them imps.

Most disturbing of all, the clones were also alive again and were able to reproduce at an alarming rate. The First had a regular baby factory in the underground hideout I’d dreamed myself in on several occasions. I’d come to realize my dreams were more like visions after a couple of them had come true.

The First’s harem were able to produce offspring every ten days or so. I’d seen one of the little monsters claw its way out of its dead mother’s womb with my own incredulous eyes. As soon as the infant had spotted me, it had immediately tried to kill me. God only knew how many imps existed now. God only knew why it was my destiny to kill them all. Come to think of it, maybe God didn’t have anything to do with this whole sordid mess. It was difficult to believe a divine being would hijack an alien spaceship, force it to crash land on our planet, make it turn a human into a vampire and eventually force Mortis, aka me, to be reborn as the living dead. If that isn’t the case then who sends the Romanian prophet and Kokoro their visions? For that matter, who sends you to the cavern of doom in your dreams? My subconscious had me stumped and I didn’t bother trying to search for an answer. I knew my limitations and I simply wasn’t smart enough to solve this mystery.

“Four of us have the ability to remain conscious during the day,” Gregor said to Geordie to soothe his fears. “We’ll take turns to stand guard.”

That meant Igor had to be at least several hundred years old if he could resist the compulsion of dying when the sun came up. It was unnerving to be awake one moment then dead to the world once the first rays of sun hit the ground. Due to the truly crappy things that had happened to me since becoming the walking dead, I was far from being a normal vampire. I now slept like a human again, which meant I could stay awake if I wanted to. Most old vampires could resist the dark magic that took us down for the day but they eventually had to succumb to it again. I could stay awake for days if I wanted to, but it made me very cranky when I did.

Luc crossed his legs and made a graceful gesture with his hand. “I suggest we launch our plan as quickly as possible and track down the First before he can send more of his offspring after us.”

Gregor lifted an eyebrow while Igor took out a knife and began sharpening it. “We didn’t get a chance to discuss your plan in detail earlier. What did you have in mind?” Gregor was referring to the meeting we’d tried to have a couple of hours ago. We’d gathered on the top of a hill to decide what we were going to do and had ended up being attacked by a bunch of imps instead. We hadn’t even known they were there until they’d come boiling out of the night to attack us. Usually, I could sense imps when they were close. As Geordie had said, the First could somehow block this ability and mask his offspring from me.

Our small group of vampires was all that stood between the imp army and an unsuspecting humanity. I couldn’t help but have serious doubts about our chances of saving them, or ourselves.

Chapter Two

“During my captivity,” Luc began and slanted a glance at me when I frowned at the painful reminder of his incarceration, “I noticed the diminishing numbers of female courtiers and grew suspicious.” He’d been held captive by the Comtesse, the most powerful of the nine Councillors who ruled the Court in France. The Court was made up of at least several hundred European vampires. The courtiers came and went on various errands for the Court so it was hard to tell exactly how many there were. I’d come to the conclusion that all were attractive, vain and a complete waste of space. I’d only had a few dealings with them but they’d left a memorable impression on me.

At first, I believed I’d been fated to kill most of the courtiers. Apparently that was now limited to only the vamps that had been possessed by their shadows. A tiny part of me was disappointed that I wouldn’t get to wipe the entire Court off the face of the earth. Unless the First gets to them, I reminded myself. Then they’ll all become damned or will be turned into imps and then I’ll get to kill them. The thought cheered me up a little.

The Comtesse was one vampire I was itching to put an end to. She was Luc’s maker and a truly unpleasant monster. I’d only realized the praying mantis was Luc’s true master after she’d ordered him to chop off my head. I still hadn’t understood completely until his sword had separated my head from my shoulders. The truth had sunken in pretty quickly when it became apparent that he was unable to refuse her order.

I didn’t want to rehash the horror of waking up to find myself reduced to being a head in a box again so skipped ahead to the main point; the Comtesse had broken our laws. One of the rules enforced by the Council was that the lords and ladies could only have one servant each. It helped to control our undead population as well as aiding us in keeping a low profile. Of course, there was a clause to the rule. All nine Councillors, being so much more important than the rest of us lowly minions, could have up to twenty servants each.

Luc and the others were fairly certain that the Comtesse had created over a thousand servants. This included lords, ladies, guards and the various other lackeys who helped run both her white marble mansion in the UK and the French mansion. She’d managed to keep this fact a secret for so long because she was ancient, evil and fiendishly clever.

I was almost impressed by how the praying mantis had pulled this off. She forced lords and ladies, who she herself had turned, to pretend to be the masters of new vamps she had also turned. Being beneath her control, they were unable to blow the whistle on her. So, while every vamp that had been turned by her knew the truth, they couldn’t come out and admit it.

I didn’t want to kill the Comtesse just because she’d breeched the rules so badly. I wanted to end her lengthy unlife because she had been tormenting Luc for seven centuries. I’d rescued him from her clutches a couple of nights ago but he wouldn’t be truly free of the hag until her head was separated from her body. I was a firm believer in an eye for an eye. Unluckily for her, I’d gained the ability to reattach any body parts that I misplaced. It was just another one of the mysterious talents that alienated me from the rest of vampirekind. Unlike me, once the Comtesse lost her head, she would become a stain on the ground and her reign of terror would finally be over. My lips curved upwards slightly at the thought.

“I began keeping watch for any unusual activity,” Luc continued his explanation. “I noticed a white van appearing every few nights. Each time it showed up, one less courtier was seen the next night.”

“You think we should wait for the van to show up and then follow it?” Igor guessed.

Luc nodded. “Exactly.”

“How long has it been since you last saw the van?” Gregor queried.

“The last time was three nights ago. It is due to arrive again tonight or tomorrow night,” Luc replied.

Luc, Gregor and Igor immediately launched into a detailed plan of how we could best track the van without being noticed by the guards patrolling the mansion. My eyes glazed over pretty quickly from boredom. I was more of a doer than a planner. Lengthy discussions like this tended to make me sleepy. Meeting Geordie’s gaze, I saw he was equally disinterested in the conversation. His lips quirked when I rolled my eyes then we were both laughing silently.

“Why don’t you two children go upstairs and get cleaned up?” Igor said with a dark frown. Luc shook his head wearily at our antics and Gregor hid a smile of what I took to be fond amusement. Compared to them, we were toddlers. Especially me. My irises had already disappeared and my pupils had become enlarged thanks to being cut into eleven pieces and then buried in consecrated dirt in a cemetery. I’d gone through some pretty radical changes during that short and unpleasant period. So, while I might look ancient in the eye department, I was still fairly new.

Seizing the excuse to flee, I bolted off the couch and raced Geordie to the set of stairs in the hallway. The kid beat me but only because he cheated. Tripping over the foot he stuck out, I sprawled on my face at the base of the stairs. Planting a foot on my back, he leaped over my prone body then raced to the top and down the hall with me right on his heels. I could have beaten him by using my unnatural speed but that would have been unfair.

As I’d suspected, there was only one shower in the house so I was forced to wait for my turn. “You could always join me, chérie,” Geordie said and batted long, girly eyelashes at me.

“No thanks, I’ll wait,” I replied grumpily. The clumps of ooze in my hair and clinging to my suit didn’t smell very nice and I desperately wanted to clean up.

While Geordie showered, I prowled through the upper floor. Apart from the bathroom, there were three smaller bedrooms and one larger one. Placing my backpack on the bed of the master bedroom, I claimed it before anyone else could. Luc and I would be sharing a bed so it made sense for us to have the bigger room.

It was late autumn in Europe and it was a lot colder than I was used to. I’d lived in Australia my whole life and it had a very warm climate in Queensland most of the time. Thankfully, a small pile of wood was waiting to be lit in the fireplace. Matches were on the mantle so I struck one then used a heavy iron poker to coax the pitiful flames to life. I couldn’t blow on it since I no longer had the ability to draw a breath let alone to force any air out of my lungs.

Geordie took his sweet time showering but finally emerged in a cloud of steam. I was waiting for him by the time the door opened. I hastily shifted my eyes away as he flashed his thin body at me in the pretence of adjusting his towel.

He opened his mouth to make some kind of inappropriate comment then cowered away when I lifted my hand to palm his face away. “There is no need to threaten me, Natalie,” Geordie said with as much dignity as he could muster. “I will go, for now.” With a soulful look over his shoulder, he disappeared into one of the smaller bedrooms.

Like all sensible vampires, Geordie was afraid of the holy marks on my palms. The marks were twin indentations that I’d received from holding onto a cross too tightly. The outline had become embedded in my palms on both occasions. They were deadly weapons that could kill the undead but only if I willed them to.

Being able to withstand holy objects and holy water were two of my many talents. Fire also reportedly had no effect on me. I hadn’t tested that theory yet and had no desire to do so. The flames might not kill me but it would probably hurt like hell anyway.

Some of the usual methods that killed our kind that I had unwillingly tested were; being beheaded, staked through the heart and being left out in the sun. The last one had been the worst by far. Only the sun really had the power to hurt me. Even then, I’d managed to regenerate after being boiled down to a skeleton from the waist down after only a few hours. I doubted I’d ever forget the excruciating pain of that particular episode.

Now that the bathroom was free, I took a few items from my backpack then locked myself inside the small room. Along with a fresh black leather suit to change into, I also carried one of the samurai swords I’d been given during my trip to Japan. Geordie might be annoying at times but he was correct when he said the imps could sneak up on us without my knowledge. My new policy was to keep a weapon close at all times.

My hair was covered in shampoo when stealthy noises alerted me that someone was at the door. I was out of the shower and had the sword poised to strike by the time it opened.

Chapter Three

Luc arched an eyebrow when he was confronted with the sword then eyed my dripping nakedness with a slow smile.

“Oh, it’s just you,” I said ungraciously and put the sword on the sink again. I’d locked the door but Luc had many talents of his own. I’d seen him hotwire a decrepit old truck once so I was unsurprised that picking locks was another of his skills.

“That’s the welcome I was hoping for,” he replied wryly. “May I join you?”

Since vampires had pretty much no body heat, we usually took boiling hot showers. In a house this small, the hot water system would empty out quickly. “Ok, but no hanky-panky,” I warned him and stepped back into the shower. “I’m not having sex with you in a house this small.”

“Why on earth not?” Luc asked as he stripped off and stepped in after me. A light dusting of dark hair covered his torso but did nothing to hide his leanly muscled form. Now it was my turn to eye him appreciatively.

“Because the others will hear us.” Duh. As if I could get in the mood knowing they’re listening to us getting all hot and heavy. I’d never been into voyeurism and the thought of having an audience for our bedroom antics did nothing for me.

“I can hear you right now,” Geordie said from across the hall, proving my point for me. He didn’t even raise his voice and I still heard him clearly.

Luc’s now soapy hands circled me from behind and cupped my breasts. “Then we will have to be very, very quiet,” he murmured into my ear.

I didn’t want him to stop what he was doing but I had a bad habit of moaning loudly whenever Luc put his hands on me. Bracing myself against the wall, I clamped my lips shut as one of his hands slid down over my stomach and invaded my lower regions.

Luckily, I didn’t have to breathe anymore so I was able to contain most of my involuntary noises as his fingers slid, stroked and explored. Then his chest was pressing up against my back and something much larger than his fingers was inside me. With both hands gripping my hips, he slid in and out of me with the speed and strength I’d come to appreciate and crave.

When I came, I bit right through my lips, shredding them both. They healed so fast I barely registered the pain at all. “J-J-Jeepers,” I said quietly as my body shuddered then went limp. I sometimes forgot I could no longer say Jesus, God or Christ and ended up embarrassing myself by stuttering. “Do you think they heard?” I whispered and was horrified when three answers came from various parts of the house.

“Oh, yes,” came from Gregor, with a touch of amusement.

Igor was more matter-of-fact. “Of course we heard you.”

“How many times did you come, chérie?” Geordie asked. His cheeky question didn’t go unpunished. I heard the sound of rapid footsteps on the stairs then a hand connecting with the back of the kid’s head. “Ow! I was just curious,” he whined.

“Your curiosity will get you killed one day, Geordie,” Igor told his apprentice grimly and clumped back downstairs.

Mortified that everyone in the house knew what we’d been up to, I turned to Luc and found him placidly soaping his chest. “Sex is an essential part of our lives, Natalie,” he explained. “With hearing such as ours, it is impossible to be discreet when we find our pleasure.”

“Great. That’s just great.” I was near sobs of humiliation but refused to give into them. Crying was fairly pointless when you couldn’t produce any actual tears.

“One day, we will have a house of our own and only I will hear you scream with pleasure,” Luc said.

Shocked, my hands stopped massaging conditioner into my hair. “Are you asking me to move in with you?” I’d had boyfriends before but the relationships had never lasted long enough to actually shack up with any of them. “This seems a bit sudden.”

I was on the verge of panic even though I loved the guy. Oh my God…I love him! It was the first time I’d admitted the depth of my feelings for Luc to myself. I knew he loved me because I’d been inside his memories. I was the only woman he’d ever loved and I had no idea why. Apart from being Mortis, destroyer of the damned, I was pretty ordinary for a vampire.

“Relax, Ladybug,” he said dryly and I wrinkled my nose at the new nickname. My maker, Silvius, had been a lord. Due to our laws, since he was dead that technically made me a lady. Most Europeans I’d met thought I was named after an insect when I introduced myself as Nat. Hence, Geordie thought it was hilarious to call me Ladybug. Unfortunately, the nickname was sticking. “We have a lot of work to do before we will have the chance to choose a home.”

Luc’s point calmed me down before I could become hysterical. He was right, we had to track down the First and fight our way through his hordes before we could start picking out curtains. How we were going to accomplish this without dying was a minor detail we hadn’t quite worked out yet.

Before I’d left the small island where our Japanese kin lived, Kokoro had foretold that I would have an army to help me battle the First and his minions. So far, my army consisted of five people, including me. Since we were all vampires, we were susceptible to becoming possessed by our shadows. I’d been watching all of our shadows carefully and none seemed to be sentient yet. This meant that none of us were in danger of being taken over any time soon. But once we were in close proximity to the First, he could call our inner imps out of us in mere seconds. We would be helpless to resist him and that made us fairly useless as an army.

As if reading my mind, Luc took me by the shoulders. “We will find a way, Natalie.” His smile was reassuring even if it wasn’t particularly believable. I knew full well that Luc didn’t think we would win. That realization had only just hit me before we’d entered the safe house and I was still shaken by it. If he didn’t believe in me then how could I possibly believe in myself? Are you thinking of running away again, my subconscious asked me curiously. No, this time I would see things through to the end. If I was fated to battle the First then I had to at least try to believe I might have a chance of winning. Besides, the last time I’d tried to run, I’d ended up as Alexander the London sewer vamp’s science experiment.

It was getting late, or early depending on whether you were a night or day person. For us night people, it was late and dawn was just around the corner. Before retiring to our hideously decorated room, I cleaned the imp ooze from my leather suit. Entering the bedroom, I spread the suit over the single armchair near the fire to dry.

Unfortunately, the overstuffed purple armchair was the most tasteful thing in the room. The walls were hot pink and the carpet was snot green. A comforter that matched the wallpaper exactly covered the queen sized bed. I was glad to see a number of blankets beneath the comforter since I had stripped down to a borrowed t-shirt, undies and nothing else.

Gregor had volunteered to take the first watch during daylight hours. Once Igor and Luc died for the day, they wouldn’t wake again until the sun set. Since I could wake up whenever I wanted to, so if Gregor needed to sleep, I could take over from him.

A quick check of the windows reassured me that they were boarded over but I made sure the curtain would keep out any stray bars of light. Already in bed, Luc gave me a suggestive smile then shrugged philosophically when I shook my head. He’d have to catch me by surprise again if he wanted to engage in a bout of mattress wrestling.

Climbing in beside Luc, I felt the life slip out of him as the sun appeared. The first rays always came with a suffocating sense of heat for me. It was gone quickly enough and the sense of heat faded.

Gregor moved around downstairs, checking the doors and windows. The imps might be alive again now but they still shunned the sun. It was doubtful they’d make a daylight attack but not impossible. If they were covered from head to toe, they could still move around during the day. I’d survived an ambush they’d launched while the sun had still been up. If I’d been a normal vampire that couldn’t rise until nightfall, I’d have been reduced to a sticky smear on the ground. Since I was far from a normal vampire, nothing they could do would kill me. They didn’t know that and would probably continue to try to ambush us.

For a while, I studied Luc’s face. Even in death, he had underwear model good looks. What does he see in me? I’d seen his memories of the woman who had pretended to be his maker when I’d accidentally bitten him. Monique had been tall and beautiful with long black hair and an excellent rack. I was nothing compared to her in the looks department.

Then there was the Comtesse. She was tiny with voluptuous hips and white-blonde hair. I had nicknamed her the praying mantis due to her widely set, soulless eyes and general unpleasantness. The first time we’d met, she had ordered me to strip naked for her amusement. The two hundred or so courtiers who had been in attendance at the time had watched and laughed at me. There were many reasons to kill the ancient hag but that one remained at the top of the list.

I’d had the partial revenge of relieving her of one of her hands the night I’d broken Luc free. It wasn’t nearly enough punishment, not for the centuries of torment she’d put him through. Hacking her into a million tiny little pieces still wouldn’t be revenge enough but it sure would be enjoyable.

While Luc lay insensate, I watched over him and listened to Gregor pacing the floor downstairs. Maybe Luc wasn’t the only one having doubts about the likelihood of our success. They were both a lot older and a lot smarter than me. They would have examined every angle of the plan they’d concocted and were still willing to go ahead with it despite their misgivings. That just proved to me that all men were crazy.

Since I was also going to go ahead with it, I guess that made me crazy as well. Either that or I had too much testosterone in my system. Hmm, I have been infected with the blood of four male vampires, I mused uneasily. My subconscious snorted inside my head and quickly put an end to my fear. Don’t be a complete idiot for once. As if you could become more masculine just because of being infected with male blood. I winced, half expecting a mental slap to be delivered to the back of my head.

At last, I closed my eyes and willed myself to sleep. I refused to acknowledge my fear that I might dream myself back into the First’s lair again. If I thought I’d be able to figure out where the cavern was from my dreams, I would have been asleep hours ago. They were the kind of dreams I had little control over so it would be pointless letting myself be dragged back to the cavern. You’re scared to face the First again because you don’t know what he’s capable of. There went my subconscious again, blurting out a truth I didn’t want to face. The last time I’d dreamed about the eight foot monster, he’d called forth multiple shadows from me. The next time we met in a vision, he might very well call forth my inner imp instead.

Chapter Four

Thankfully, my sleep was deep and dreamless. I woke to Luc’s hands and mouth in places that had me stifling moans again. His lips were cool on my breasts and his teeth were sharp on my skin. After four centuries as a sexual entertainer of the Court, he had refined the art of causing just enough pain for it to be pleasurable. His fangs never broke my skin but the threat that he could was there. If he did and swallowed my blood, he’d die horribly so it was more danger to him than to me. That didn’t stop it from being incredibly erotic.

When I could no longer hold in my moans, I grabbed Luc by the hair and mashed my mouth to his. Giving up on torturing me, he proceeded to make the bedsprings rock alarmingly. I wrapped my legs around him and when I came, the inevitable happened. Luc gave a shout of pain as several bones broke.

“What was that?” I heard Geordie ask groggily from the room down the hall as he rose for the day. “Did I just hear gunshots?” Being the youngest, apart from me, he was always the last to rise.

A muffled laugh came from Gregor somewhere downstairs. Igor cleared his throat, it echoed around inside the bathroom down the hall. “You heard nothing. It was your imagination,” he said gruffly.

Luc rolled onto his back as his bones cracked quietly back into place. “It was worth it,” he groaned. I spent the next minute or so laughing hysterically with a pillow pressed over my face. If I’d still been human, tears of mingled mirth and humiliation would have been rolling down my cheeks. If I’d still been human, I wouldn’t break Luc’s bones every time we got physical together.

Gregor had managed to regain his equilibrium by the time Luc and I made it downstairs. He only looked a little ragged around the edges after staying up all day. It was Igor’s turn to keep watch next. The Russian gave no indication that he’d heard our bedroom antics. Considering that he worked for the Court, he was probably so used to it he didn’t even hear it anymore. Yeah, keep telling yourself that and maybe you won’t die of embarrassment.

This time, we moved to the back of the house and gathered at the dining table to have our meeting. The table was a bit on the small side with only enough seats for six people. Igor took up nearly half of the battered old pine table with an array of weapons. Testing the edges, he sorted them into piles that needed to be sharpened and ones that were good to slice and dice.

Geordie stomped into the room and gave Luc a bad tempered glare. He dropped his knife onto the pile of weapons that required sharpening, clearly expecting Igor to take care of it for him. The Russian picked it up, rapidly ran the sharpening stone over it a few times then tossed it back to the teen. Geordie gave him a quick smile then sat diagonally across from me. His hair was a tousled mess that could use a wash. Everyone had found a change of clothes, mostly button up shirts, threadbare jackets and jeans. I was wearing a jumper and jeans that were several sizes too large for me. I’d also found a belt and had made a new hole so it would keep my pants from falling down around my ankles.

Gregor ran us through the plan once we were all settled. He’d spent the whole day thinking it through and refining it. The least I could do was to pay attention this time and not succumb to the boredom that wanted to make my eyes glaze over. “This is what I propose,” he began. “Lucentio will park as close to the mansion as he can without being discovered by the guards. The two of you,” he indicated Luc and me, “will travel the rest of the way on foot and find somewhere safe to hide while you watch for the van. We three will be in our car not far from the mansion. Once you spot the van and determine which direction it is headed in, Natalie will contact me. We will take turns tailing the vehicle so it won’t be easy for them to spot us.”

As far as plans went, it was a fairly simple one that even I could remember without too much trouble. Besides, Luc would be doing most of the work, I just had to follow his lead. I nodded to indicate I was listening and kicked Geordie in the shin when he made no acknowledgement at all. He winced then reluctantly put aside his childish jealousy about my relationship with Luc. “What if they head to the airport?” he asked to show he’d been paying attention.

“That is unlikely,” Luc said. “None of the courtiers like to fly.”

“They’re still not used to indoor plumbing let alone something that can stay up in the air for hours at a time,” I said snidely. Geordie tried and failed to hide his snigger. Unbeknownst to him, I included him in the list of people who were sadly behind the times. A normal teenager would have been welded to their mobile phone or computer. Geordie didn’t own or have any idea how to use either device. Electricity had still been a new concept when he’d been turned into a monster.

Gregor had an answer for the kid anyway. He was a master when it came to planning. “If they do, Igor will board the plane. He is the best equipped at blending in with humans.”

I find that hard to believe. After a quick glance around the table, I revised that thought. Igor was the most ordinary looking vampire at the table. With his pale skin and dark, coarse hair, his black eyes didn’t seem to stand out so much. “The rest of us can follow on the next flight,” Gregor said.

“If I were kidnapping the courtiers,” Igor put in, “I’d transport them in an enclosed vehicle. I’d have a human slave for a driver so we wouldn’t have to stop for the day.” He finished sharpening the last blade then made his stone disappear again. He tucked the weapons away inside the worn woollen jacket he’d found somewhere in the house.

Gregor took the weapons that were proffered with a nod of thanks. “I concur, that is the most likely scenario.” Flicking his longish hair back, Gregor knew how well it framed his face but he was preening for an unappreciative audience. It was habit and just part of his rakish charm. “We will tail the van until it stops to transport the next victim to another vehicle. Once this occurs, we will then switch our attention to the new vehicle.”

“Why do you think there will be another vehicle?” Geordie queried.

“Because the van always returns in three or four days,” I guessed out loud. “I doubt the First is hiding anywhere nearby. He’d want his lair to be somewhere secluded and hard to find. If the van always returns quickly then that means they have another car to drive the mothers-to-be the rest of the way.”

Nodding his head, Geordie’s slightly confused look spoiled his pretence that he’d followed my logic. “If the van is due to arrive, shouldn’t we be on our way to the mansion?”

Gregor stood. “That is an excellent suggestion. Igor, Geordie, let’s go. We’ll move into position and wait for Natalie’s call.” With a nod at Luc and me, he herded the pair toward the door.

“I bet they’re going to have a quickie before they leave,” Geordie said sullenly. This time, it was Gregor who took a swipe at him. Geordie wasn’t quite fast enough to duck the blow. A meaty smack echoed down the hallway, followed by the kid’s whine of protest.

“How about it?” Luc asked when the front door closed behind them. “Do you want to have a quickie?”

I was tempted by the offer but nowhere near in the mood for it. “Maybe later if we can fit it in while tailing the van,” I said distractedly. Luc hid his disappointment well and stood. I scooped the backpack off the floor and trotted to keep up with his longer strides as he left the room.

Our ride back to the mansion should have taken two hours but Luc floored it and had us there in an hour and a half. Just as Gregor had planned, we parked as close to the grounds as we could then went the rest of the way on foot.

Crouched between a pair of dense shrubs, we examined the mansion closely. It was just as impressive as the first time I’d seen it. Four stories high, the main building was made of sandstone. Two wings made of some kind of darker stone spread out to either side. The grounds were a landscaped perfection of neatly clipped grass and razor straight hedges. There didn’t seem to be a single blade of grass or leaf out of place.

Guards dressed in dark uniforms to help them blend in with the night, prowled the perimeter of the grounds. We spotted more guards inside the building through the windows on the bottom three floors. We’d stationed ourselves around the back, near the servant’s entrance to wait for the van to appear. From here, we could keep our eye on the guard’s barracks as well. It was smaller than the main building, only three stories high, and was made of the same dark stone as the wings.

Several hours later, Luc checked his watch for the hundredth time and frowned. “The van usually comes at midnight or close to it,” he murmured. It was two in the morning now. “I have the distinct feeling that it won’t be appearing tonight.”

Snapping out of the near coma like state I’d been in due to extreme boredom, I realized something had been bothering me since we’d arrived. “That’s weird,” I said quietly, surveying first the grounds and then the mansion in the distance. Lights blazed from the lower floors. The Comtesse and her fellow Council members slept on the fourth floor and their windows were permanently boarded up. They were paranoid about the sun burning them to death and also about being invaded by enemies. By enemies, I meant the Japanese vampire nation. Since humans didn’t know for sure that we existed, we had no other real enemies. Or hadn’t until the imps had begun to appear. Then, of course, there was me. Being Mortis, I had become the number one enemy of all possessed vampires pretty much by default.

“What’s weird?” Luc ran a hand up and down my back, sending a shiver up my spine.

“I could have sworn there were more guards a couple of nights ago.” The place had been all but crawling with them when Gregor, Igor, Geordie and I had set Luc free.

Turning his attention to the mansion, Luc studied it thoughtfully but made no comment. Maybe I’d just imagined that there had been dozens of guards the last time. It had been a pretty stressful situation so I might have exaggerated the number in my mind.

We gave up on waiting for the van to appear two hours before dawn. Luc phoned Gregor and suggested they head back to the safe house. Halfway back, we saw an opportunity for a meal. While I could last for a several days before my hunger began to bother me, Luc had to feed more regularly.

A car had pulled over on the side of the road and was listing to one side. Two flat tyres were the reason for the tilt. A man was hunkered down, changing the front tyre. A woman who I presumed was his wife nagged at him through her open window. “I told you we should have had two spares, Barry!” Her tone was shrill and tired and her accent was English. It was cold enough that her breath made tiny white clouds of mist with each word she uttered.

Hunching his shoulders, Barry muttered his reply. “Where am I supposed to keep the second spare, love? On the back seat?”

“What did you say?” the wife said sharply. Her tone went up a few more octaves until it was a high pitched semi-shriek.

“I said…” Barry trailed off when he noticed our car had pulled to a stop directly across the road. Relief coursed over his face. He was only in his forties but deep lines had already been carved into his forehead.

Nag lines, I thought and stifled a snigger as Luc opened his door. “Do you require assistance?” he called.

“What do you think, Sherlock?” the wife replied with heavy sarcasm. “Of course we require assistance!”

Barry sent Luc a look of apology and stood. He crossed the road, holding his hand out. They shook then moved to the back of our car.

Pissed off at being delayed, the wife glared at me through her open window as if I was somehow responsible for their circumstances. I stared back at her with a complete lack of expression. Her glare faltered then disappeared at my non reaction to her belligerence. She was used to bludgeoning people into submission with her horrible personality but I wasn’t about to be bullied. Even as a human, I wouldn’t have put up with it.

Disconcerted, she turned away and pretended to search inside her purse. I couldn’t see the purse but I could hear the objects shifting around inside it. Yeah, you’d better turn away. I’m way scarier than you’ll ever be, I told her silently.

At the rear of our car, Barry was murmuring quietly to Luc. “I really appreciate this, mate. As you can see, the wife is a bit stressed.” He laughed but it sounded more tired than amused. Amusement was probably sorely lacking in his life. “I’ll give you some money to pay for a new tyre,” he offered.

“That will not be necessary,” Luc demurred. We’d have our payment but it wouldn’t be in the form of money. Liquid nourishment was what we craved.

Luc hefted the spare from our boot. Pretending it was heavy, he carried it across the road to our meal’s car. The wife did a double take when she saw his face and unconsciously patted her hair into place. I knew it was necessary but I didn’t like the idea of Luc snacking on her. I was afraid her bitterness might spread through him like poison.

I waited until the second tyre was in place before opening my door and leaving the car. Barry turned when I touched his arm. All the weariness and unhappiness left him when I caught his gaze. Luc bent to look into the open window and the wife was captured just as easily. She stepped out of the car with unseemly eagerness when he crooked his finger.

After filling up on blood, I led my victim to the driver’s door and he clumsily climbed inside with a carefree grin still on his face. It gave me a glimpse of the younger, happier man he’d once been. That’s what he looked life before he married his shrew of a wife, I surmised.

Luc finished up with the wife then sat her down. “Be nicer to your husband,” he admonished her gently. “Your life could be a lot worse than it is.” Even through the hypnotism, the wife frowned heavily. Maybe the idea of being nice to Barry was too foreign a concept for to her to grasp.

A minute later, we were on our way again. Feeding had put me in the mood for sex so I suggested we pull over for the quickie I’d put off earlier. The back seat of the car turned out to be pretty comfortable, if a bit squishy.

Crouched in a different shrub the next night, Luc frowned at the few guards prowling the perimeter and interior of the mansion. The usual sounds of merriment from inside the building were muted. “I think you might be right, Natalie,” he said after midnight had come and gone without the van showing up at the usual time. “There are fewer guards on patrol.”

Again, the van was a no show and we headed back to the safe house before the sun could appear and barbeque us to death. I opted to keep watch during the day this time. I was too worried to try to sleep. Is the First somehow aware of our plan and has sped up his plan to clear out the mansion? I didn’t see how he could know what we were up to. Not unless he had a prophet of his own hidden somewhere in his cavern of doom.

For the third time in as many nights, Luc and I approached the mansion after parking our car at a safe distance from the property. Reaching the outer boundary of the estate, we didn’t bother to hide this time. Not after taking a quick look at the grounds and buildings.

Luc pulled out his mobile phone and called the rest of our team. “Gregor, you might as well join us.”

“Why?” I heard the older vampire ask. His tone was laced with dread. “What has happened?”

“They’re gone.” Luc tried and failed to hide his fear that we had run out of time. On some level, I’d known something was wrong but I hadn’t trusted my instincts. It looks like my hunch was right. In future, I’d pay greater attention when I felt something was off.

“Who has gone?”

“Everyone,” Luc replied bleakly. “The entire Court appears to have been evacuated. The mansion is empty.”

Chapter Five

We didn’t bother to wait for the others to join us before heading inside to search for clues. As far as I could tell, the place was completely deserted. The possibility that this might be a trap crossed my mind but it was doubtful. Luc agreed with my hunch that the building was ok and approached the stairs.

Since the front doors were standing open, we accepted the implied invitation and entered. I’d been inside the mansion a couple of times but was momentarily stunned again by the sheer opulence. Soft lighting from crystal chandeliers in the high ceilings illuminated priceless paintings. Highly polished antique furniture made of some kind of dark wood had been placed in aesthetically pleasing positions. Dusky pink wallpaper with rose patterned highlights covered the walls. Thick maroon carpet graced the floors. From memory, the Comtesse’s mansion in the UK was even more breathtaking with its white marble everywhere and gold accents. Still, this building was a far step above anything I was used to.

Luc and I climbed to the fourth floor to begin our search. We encountered the subtle signs of battle during our journey. The ooze of the fallen imps I’d killed a few nights ago had been scrubbed away. Despite the clean-up job, I could still see the faint traces in the carpet and on the wallpaper of the hallway. The smell of undead blood still lingered and would take time to fade completely.

In mutual silent agreement, we travelled to the end of the hall and entered the Comtesse’s suite first. The heavy wooden door hadn’t yet been replaced. The foot-sized hole I’d made when rescuing Luc had been covered with a sheet of flimsy wood. Taking a quick glance around the sitting room, nothing seemed to be out of place. The heavy furniture was undisturbed and there were no puddles of ooze on the floor.

With my weapons held at the ready, I pushed open the door to the Comtesse’s bedroom. Red was the predominant colour. It covered the ceiling, walls, floor and bed. Variation wasn’t in the tiny blonde’s makeup.

Luc’s jaw tightened when he stepped inside. This was where he’d been forced to be the sexual slave of his master yet again. He’d managed to escape from the Comtesse’s clutches three centuries ago when he’d become a lord. When his pretend maker, Monique, had been killed, he’d been elevated to her former position. It had given him enough power to determine who he would sleep with. Luc’s choice after being granted the title of a lord had been to sleep with no one. Until I’d come along and had dragged him into the sack with my newly risen flesh hunger, that was.

After a brief glance to verify the praying mantis wasn’t hiding under the gigantic bed, we left the suite. Luc relaxed once we were back in the hallway and offered me a tight smile. I slid my arm around his waist to offer him comfort. He was being brave but it must have been painful returning to the mansion again after having escaped from it so recently.

We performed a quick search of the rest of the bedroom suites on the top floor. All were decorated in tones of blood red. We’d spent the night here once and I’d privately thought the rooms were tacky. My opinion hadn’t changed at all since the last time I’d visited.

All of the suites were empty of life and unlife so we headed downwards. Over the past few days, everyone in the mansion had just up and left. Lights had been left on and the windows were unshuttered from the third floor downwards. I was reminded of the stories I’d read of whole towns suddenly becoming deserted or ghost ships floating around the ocean without a crew. If the courtiers had been human, food would probably still be sitting on plates waiting to be eaten. I could almost believe they’d all been beamed up by aliens to a mother ship and then spirited away. Maybe they had been, our creator had been an alien after all.

We both heard a car approaching and went to investigate. After taking the long trip down the driveway, it parked near the doors to the mansion. Luc glanced out through a window at the end of the hallway. “Our friends have arrived,” he informed me. I squeezed in beside him to watch our friends pile out of the large black car. All carried weapons despite Luc’s advice that the house was deserted. Since I currently had a sword clutched in my hand, I couldn’t really blame them.

Our companions caught up to us when we were in the ballroom on the second floor. Dark red drapes covered the windows, sweeping from nearly ceiling height to brush the floor. The floor was polished wood, stained the same dark shade as the four or five hundred year old furniture. A stage had been erected at the far end of the room so that the Councillors could look down upon their minions.

I frowned when I counted the plush chairs that were lined up side by side on the stage. “Why are there only eight chairs?” I asked Luc. “I thought there were nine Councillors.

“One of the Council members disappeared a few months ago,” he replied. “The Comtesse assumed he had turned traitor and ordered his chair to be removed.”

Since none of the council members had been created by the praying mantis, they still had the freedom to make their own choices. I could hardly believe one of them had had the balls to run from her after being her lackey for so long.

Hearing footsteps approach, we turned as our friends entered the room. “We’ve just searched the ground floor and could see no signs of attack,” Gregor said as he entered the ballroom first. “What do you think has happened to everyone?”

“My guess would be that the First has called them in,” I replied. It was the only explanation that made sense to me. The First could control all possessed vamps. They wouldn’t be able to resist his long distance mental imperative to march to their doom.

Geordie scratched his head in puzzlement. “But not all of the courtiers were ancient enough for their shadows to be in possession of them.” Igor frowned in agreement but remained silent.

“It doesn’t matter how old they are,” I said in resignation. “The Comtesse is possessed by her shadow. Since she owns almost everybody, she just has to order them to follow her.”

I’d recently learned that we didn’t actually need to be ancient before our shadows began to change. One of the vamps I’d culled from the Japanese nation had only been turned fifty years ago. I hadn’t shared this fact with my friends because I didn’t want to freak them out any more than they already were. So far, we were all safe so what was the point in worrying them unnecessarily?

“When the Comtesse is possessed by her shadow, she has no power over us,” Luc reminded me.

I gave him a look that probably looked as jaded as it felt. “You were smart enough to figure that out but obviously no one else is.” After centuries of following the Comtesse’s orders, it was ingrained in the courtiers and servants to obey her every word. It had taken guts for Luc to defy the praying mantis. Probably more guts than I’d ever be able to understand. I’d only been Silvius’ slave for five minutes before I’d killed him and that had been five minutes too long. Luc had been under the Comtesse’s spell for centuries. I personally thought his hatred of her had helped him to override his automatic instinct to obey.

“How could they spirit so many of our kin away while we were watching the mansion?” Gregor wondered. “Surely we would have seen a convoy of vehicles leaving the area.”

“I bet they used the trucks stationed near each of the exits to the catacombs in case of invasion,” Geordie said as he nervously toyed with his knife. We all turned to regard him and he hunched his shoulders at being the centre of attention. “But you probably already knew that.” His French accent deepened slightly with embarrassment.

“I didn’t know that,” I said. “Where are these catacombs?”

“They lie beneath our feet,” Igor replied. “A series of rooms and tunnels were created to house the courtiers and servants. Several exits leading to the surface were constructed to aid our escape if it ever became necessary.” He seemed insulted that his young helper had thought of the escape routes before he had. Geordie smirked but his smugness was half-hearted.

“I’d almost forgotten about the catacombs,” Gregor said softly.

Luc nodded thoughtfully. “They are not a place that one wants to remember.”

“We might as well take a look and make sure no one is hiding down there,” I decided. My curiosity had been aroused at the thought of secret tunnels that had been dug beneath the sprawling grounds.

Luc and Gregor exchanged a glance. They knew something that I didn’t, which wasn’t hard since I had zero knowledge of the catacombs at all. Igor looked uncomfortable and Geordie was downright grim. It was strange to see such a serious expression on the teen’s usually mischievous face.

Taking the lead, Igor headed towards the back of the building. We passed a servant’s staircase that led to the upper floors. It was the entrance I’d used when breaking Luc free several days ago. Turning the corner, we entered a narrow, dark hallway. It stopped abruptly and Igor pressed a recessed button that was almost invisible even to my sharp eyes. A cleverly hidden door popped open.

I didn’t like the look of the staircase that awaited us. It brought to mind a dungeon with a mad scientist waiting at the bottom. Being at the mercy of a mad vampire scientist once had definitely been enough.

Down we went and the air quickly turned stale and damp. Since we didn’t need to breathe, there was no need for air conditioning. Rough concrete stairs gave way to a smoother, paved floor after we’d traipsed downwards for twenty or so steps. Lamps that had burned out hours ago were spaced out at regular intervals. A faint odour of smoke still lingered.

Igor quickly strode down the hall, forcing me to almost trot to keep up with him. He made a few turns, pushed open a door and we ended up in a gigantic, lavish living area. It was nowhere near as opulent as upstairs but it was far from shabby. The couches, coffee tables and other assorted furniture were antique and well kept.

I couldn’t see any books, TVs, stereos or entertainment of any kind. I’d been told that vampires slept, fed and had sex and that was all. Gregor seemed to defy the odds and enjoyed reading. So did I. I wasn’t sure about the rest of our friends. We’d been too busy trying to stay alive to discuss what we liked to do in our spare time. At the moment, we didn’t have any spare time.

Doors and hallways branched off on three sides. We performed a quick sweep of what turned out to be numerous well-appointed bedrooms but found no one lying in wait or trying to hide.

“I guess this is where the courtiers sleep,” I said to no one in particular when we regathered near the stairs. I also guessed it was where they practiced most of their naked entertainment. Some of the rooms had contained chains, handcuffs and sex toys that would have made me blush if I’d still been able to.

Geordie nodded in response to my guess. “The servant’s quarters are on the levels below this one.” His answer was decidedly glum and my curiosity was peaked again.

We took the stairs, descending deeper into the earth. Almost immediately, the wealth and comfort were left behind. Reaching the next level down, the hallways were roughly dug and the dirt walls and ceiling were bolstered with cracked or rotting boards that badly needed replacing. Doors stood open, revealing rows of small cells furnished with a thin pallet on the floor and not much else. There were no comfortable living areas or bedrooms down here.

“Don’t tell me you and Igor live down here,” I said in appalled shock. I’d often lamented that my one bedroom apartment had been small and shabby. It had been a palace compared to these bare cells. I mentally vowed never to complain about my life as a human to any of my friends. Their sympathy would be understandably lacking.

“We do, chérie. Or did.” Geordie looked even glummer now. I wondered which cell was his but didn’t ask. Just knowing he’d been living here for two centuries was bad enough. If the Council and Court truly had been called to the First then Geordie, Igor and Luc would now have the mansion all to themselves. How long would it be before they were discovered by curious humans once the bills stopped being paid? I could picture them fleeing from a crazed mob bearing flaming torches and pitchforks all too easily. Now that I’d joined their merry band, I’d also be fleeing from the mob when they found us.

We listened for any sounds of movement and I sent out my senses once more but came up blank. It was far too quiet for anyone alive or undead to be hiding on this level. After a glance at Luc and Gregor, Igor shrugged at their reluctant nods and took another staircase downward.

Chapter Six

Geordie squeezed in front of Luc so he was directly behind me. He was so close he was all but treading on my heels. I trusted his instincts so if he showed any signs of nervousness I’d know we were in trouble. “I do not like this level of the catacombs, Natalie,” he whispered suddenly, almost making me jump.

Neither did I and I didn’t have any particular reason for it. “Why not?” I asked just as quietly.

His response was gloomy. “It is said to be haunted.” I threw a look over my shoulder to see if he was joking or not. His grin was weak and half-hearted as if he wasn’t sure whether to believe the stories he’d been told or not.

“Haunted by what?” We were the walking dead. If anyone was haunting the earth, surely it was us.

“By the ghosts of those who were slain as food or entertainment for the Comtesse, the Council and the Court,” Igor intoned. He cast a dark look back at me that didn’t ease me at all. “This is where the humans are kept.” Gesturing to a long, pitch black tunnel, he nodded for me to precede him.

Luc had once told me that there were no such things as ghosts. Maybe that had been wishful thinking on his part. He seemed to be just as uncomfortable as the rest of us at being down here.

Ok, I told myself as I squeezed past Igor, remember that you are Mortis, mistress of death. You are the bane of vampirekind. You are strong and powerful and you aren’t afraid of anything. That was a big, fat lie. I was afraid of plenty. I was especially afraid of making a fool of myself. It happened all too frequently for my liking.

Luc gave me a reassuring nod and Gregor gave me a smile that didn’t quite make it all the way up to his eyes. My friends were spooked and were hiding it badly. They also seemed to be ashamed, either of themselves or simply from being members of the Court in their various ways. Even Gregor, who lived as far apart from the Court as possible, hung his head a little. I suspected their shame revolved around the deaths of generations of poor human captives who had provided food for our kind.

It was far too quiet down on the lower levels. It was still pretty early and humans were noisy creatures even when they were asleep. I should have been able to hear them breathing, twitching, crying, farting and making all the usual sounds humans couldn’t help but make.

With a serious case of the heebie-jeebies, I pulled my second sword free and passed my backpack to Geordie. I was the fastest, strongest and most impervious to death so it only made sense for me to go first.

A heavy metal door waited at the end of the tunnel. It swung open at my light shove with a rusty creak that added to the overall creepy atmosphere. A nauseous smell hit me and I understood why the humans were so quiet. Geordie muttered something beneath his breath about the odour as I stepped through the door.

Cages lined a room that stretched too far into the distance for me to see the end of. Humans were crammed in together, up to twenty per cage that should have only housed fifteen at the most. Their living conditions were equally as appalling as the captives I’d dreamed about in the cavern of doom. These poor souls had only bare dirt to lie down on and would have to take it in turns to sleep. Naked and malnourished, they wallowed in filth like penned animals. I resisted an almost overwhelming urge to turn and rake a scornful glare across my companions. I reminded myself that the Council was at fault, not my friends. If they’d made any kind of protest, they no doubt would have been punished for it.

It wasn’t just the smell of human waste that tainted the air. It was also thick with sticky, congealed blood. Every single man, woman and child had been slaughtered in their cages. Their pitifully thin bodies held multiple stab wounds. Many were missing limbs and most had claw marks on their abused bodies.

“Imps did this,” I concluded as the men gathered beside me in front of the nearest cage.

“How can you tell?” Gregor asked. He eyed the dead calmly enough but I sensed his fury and pity at the fate that had befallen the captives. By his pained expression, he found their living conditions to be as abhorrent as I did.

“Because some of them have been partially eaten.” I pointed at teeth marks in an arm that had been torn off and dropped to the floor. Vampires drank blood, we didn’t eat meat. That could only mean that our transformed kin were responsible for the slaughter.

“There’s no point searching through the entire catacombs,” Igor said wearily. “They are too extensive for just the five of us to search effectively. Besides, the courtiers and Councillors are long gone by now.”

“And we have no way to track them,” Luc said grimly.

Gregor studied my face, reading me far more easily than I cared for. “Natalie, do you know of a way for us to locate them?”

“I might,” was my reluctant reply.

Luc gave me a long look then gestured to the tunnel entrance. “Let’s head back to the safe house. We can discuss our options there.” I wasn’t about to argue, not when I wanted to get away from the smell so badly. It was bound to linger in my hair and clothes as well as in my memory.

I took the lead again, more to avoid any questions than because I thought it was necessary. No one was going to attack us here. My senses were on high alert and they were coming up empty. The First had called the entire Court to him and he hadn’t left any nasty surprises for us.

We had a silent ride back to the safe house and didn’t stop for a quickie this time. Even Luc wasn’t in the mood for it, which was rare. The fact that I was still holding one of my swords might have been a minor deterrent for him. My reflexes were so quick that startling me could end badly for the startler.

Back in our safe house, I took a seat in the living room and waited for everyone to settle into place before telling them my idea. I felt secure enough to put the sword away. “You know it’s possible for me to sense the imps,” I began. They all nodded. “You also know the First can mask them from me somehow.”

“Yes, chérie,” Geordie said and made an impatient gesture. “We all know these things.”

“Well, what you don’t know is that I can also sense other vampires.” I ignored their startled looks. “It’s a skill I picked up during my short vacation in the cemetery a few months ago.” Geordie sniggered then cringed at a dark look from Luc.

“How close do they have to be for you to sense them?” Gregor wanted to know.

I gave him a shrug. “I don’t know exactly. I’m hoping it will be easier to find a large group.”

“Is this going to put you in any kind of danger?” Luc demanded.

“I don’t think so.” How the hell would I know? I didn’t get the Mortis manual when I was turned by Silvius. I hadn’t received any instruction at all from the creature that had created me. Once I’d realized what he was, I’d been too busy trying to kill him to ask him if he had any tips to pass on. The only thing Silvius had taught me was that holy objects had a tendency to make us burst into pretty blue flames when we touched them.

Gregor sat on the edge of the couch, keen black eyes focussed on me intently. “When were you planning to try this?”

“There’s no time like the present,” I replied then stood. “It’ll be easier if I do it lying down.” Not being the object of their stares would also be far less of a distraction.

Geordie bit his lips trying to suppress a laugh at my choice of words. “It usually is, chérie.”

Rolling my eyes, I headed upstairs. Luc followed me and closed our bedroom door to give us at least a semblance of privacy. “I will watch over you,” he reassured me and sat on the edge of the bed. Being a man, it had to be difficult for him to stand around doing nothing while the woman did all the work.

Putting the backpack on the floor beside the bed, I lay down and closed my eyes. Sending out my senses, I immediately picked up Luc and our three friends downstairs. Unsure of how to proceed, I hovered there, undecided. I’d never tried to sense multiple vamps at a distance before and they could be headed in any direction.

In the end, I decided being methodical would be my best option. I swept my senses to the south, west, north then east. I immediately hit on several tiny groups of vampires plus occasional singles spread out across France. None of them were my quarry so I tried again, sending the probe out further. My method finally paid off and I distantly sensed a larger group of vampires. Homing in on the moving pack, I didn’t know exactly how many there were, just that there were a lot.

Opening my eyes, I sat up. “I think I’ve found them.”

Comfortable and at ease, Luc was stretched out on the bed beside me with his elbow bent and his head resting on his hand. He cocked an eyebrow in query. “Did you see where they were headed?”

“No. It doesn’t work like that.” I couldn’t use my eyes when sensing other undead but I could at least tell the general direction they were heading in. “I can’t actually see them but I can sense their presence. They’re somewhere to the north-east.”

“That’s a good start. We should begin following them when we rise for the night.” Luc avoided my gaze by taking my hand and raising it to his lips.

“You think we’re going to lose, don’t you?” I said very softly, hoping the others couldn’t hear me. Morale was already low and I didn’t want it to peter out altogether.

Luc struggled against the urge to lie then lifted sorrowful dark eyes to mine. “I do not see how we can possibly win against a creature that can call monsters forth from within us.” He spoke even more quietly than I had.

“Kokoro thinks we’ll have an army to back us up,” I said in a decidedly lame attempt to cheer him up.

Running his thumb across the back of my hand, Luc gave me an amused smile. “Then I hope this army shows up sooner rather than later. We could certainly use their assistance.”

Chapter Seven

Igor’s black car was large enough to carry all of us but we opted to take both cars rather than all of us cramming into one. I for one didn’t want to share an enclosed space with Geordie for several hours at a time. He was ok in small doses but had a habit of getting on my nerves fairly quickly. Luc was more tolerant than me but he’d known the kid a lot longer than I had.

“Tell me about Igor and Geordie,” I said during a long stretch of silence. Luc was driving, as always, heading roughly north-east. We were keeping to the main highways in the hope that any imps sent after us might think twice before attacking. Some of them weren’t quite as stupid as they looked and were able to plan their attacks. Igor followed us, maintaining a distance of about four car lengths between our vehicles. “What are their stories?”

“What do you mean?” The dashboard lights gave Luc’s pale skin a ghoulish, greenish cast.

“Who are their masters and are they still alive?” I clarified.

“Geordie is a strange case.” I politely bit back an automatic snigger at his choice of words. Luc shot me a look anyway, sensing my mirth. “He was not made by a Lord or Lady but by another servant. The girl was very young when she was made, only twelve or thirteen. Her master was extremely cruel and had a tendency to use up his servants quickly.” He frowned for a moment as the memory of the poor girl’s suffering. “Unwisely, she secretly turned Geordie, hoping he would kill her master and become her companion.”

Boy did she choose poorly. I couldn’t imagine Geordie killing a much older and far more powerful vampire. “I guess her plan didn’t work out all that well for her.”

“You guess correctly.” Luc gave me a quick smile then grew serious again. “She was unable to control Geordie when his blood hunger rose. He killed several humans in a nearby village. Word of their deaths spread and the girl’s master came to investigate.”

I shook my head at how stupid she’d been but couldn’t really blame her. It was hard enough being in my twenties and becoming a monster. Being turned into an undead teenager had to be a nightmare. Ishida, emperor of the Japanese vamps had been twelve when he’d been turned. He might be ten thousand years old but he still acted like a kid at times. “What happened to her?”

“Her master killed her, of course.” Luc’s answer was chillingly matter-of-fact.

“Jeez, one strike and you’re out,” I muttered.

My most favourite companion nodded in agreement. “She broke the Court’s rules and had to be punished.” If the girl’s master hadn’t killed her, Luc probably would have been sent to do the job. Luc was noble, for a vampire, and I doubted he would have relished the task even if it was his job. Being the vampire equivalent of a cop, he was usually sent out to do the Council’s dirty work.

“What happened to Geordie after she died?”

“Igor took charge of him and eventually took him on as his apprentice.”

I’d yet to see Geordie behind the wheel and wondered what kind of apprentice he actually was. “Is Igor’s master dead, too?” I was fascinated by their history. It was like a fairy story that had gone horribly wrong. I received another nod from my companion.

“The Court offers jobs to the masterless, keeping them out of trouble and under the Council’s eyes. Igor is very adaptable and found a place within their ranks.”

“Huh.” I mused about this for a while. “Why didn’t Gregor offer them a job?” Gregor disagreed with turning humans into vampires and only took on the masterless as employees. His guards were fiercely loyal to him because he treated them with dignity and respect. In stark contrast, the Comtesse’s servants were either treated like vermin or as sexual playthings.

Casting a sardonic look in my direction, Luc winked. “He did.”

Knowing how crafty the older vampires could be, I put two and two together. “Igor is your spy, isn’t he?”

“Yes. We became acquainted shortly after I was turned and eventually became friends. Our friendship would have been frowned upon by the Council in the event that I ever became a Lord. It seemed prudent to pretend to be distant.”

Since Luc had eventually become a lord, their sneakiness had been well planned. I wondered why the Councillors were against lords and ladies having friends in lower places. Because they’re a bunch of snobby arseholes who like to look down on everyone they consider to be beneath them, I decided. Luc continued his explanation. “Igor keeps me up to date on Court intrigue during the times that I am away.”

Luc was sent went after anyone who broke the rules and brought them to justice. In most cases, justice meant a swift stake through the heart. Fate had brought us together when he’d been sent to Australia to kill my maker. Silvius had plotted against the Council, killing several members of the Court. In a gigantic twist of irony, he’d been on the side of Mortis, who had turned out to be me. I’d had a faction supporting me before I’d even been turned into the undead.

Some of our kin believed that I would wipe out all vampires, keeping only a chosen few around to be my generals. They thought I would then create a new army of bloodsuckers and end up ruling the world. How wrong they all were. I was far too lazy for that. Besides, the First was the one who was creating an unholy army with the intention of ruling the world. His plan was ridiculous considering how many humans there actually were. But he was going to take a stab at it anyway. I was worried that they might even have a chance of pulling it off since the imps could reproduce so quickly.

“How old is Igor, do you know?” I was bored and curious, which could be a dangerous combination at times.

“I am not sure. I suspect that he is far older than Gregor.”

I had the sense that Gregor was somewhere over three thousand years old. That meant Igor must be truly ancient. “Wouldn’t that mean Igor is a Lord then?” I was still woefully ignorant about vampire culture and politics.

Luc shook his head, keeping his eyes on the road. At the speed we were going, I was glad he didn’t allow his attention to be diverted. We’d heal if we crashed but the car wouldn’t be able to bounce back so well. “There were no Lords or Ladies until the Comtesse and her cronies founded the Council and the Court.”

“How long ago was this?” I was fascinated by the history instead of being bored by it for once.

“The Council came into existence when the Prophet had his visions of you. Before that, we were ruled by an English King.”

Remembering my interaction with the London sewer vamps, I couldn’t see them mustering up any kind of challenge to the Council. “What happened to him?”

“The Comtesse had gathered quite a following of disillusioned European vampires. She convinced them to go to war with their King and won.”

That would have been a battle of the ages. For a moment I almost wished I’d been around back then to see it. “So, who are the other Councillors?” I’d seen them a couple of times but only briefly. They’d seemed to be pompous, powerless and to be little more than mere figureheads to me.

“They were the main supporters of the Comtesse,” Luc said. “She was smart enough not to fall into the same trap as the King. Instead of having absolute rule, she came up with the idea of a Council of nine. They promised they would come up with a plan on how to deal with you once you rose. By the time the Court was established and they realized the Comtesse was the one with true power, it was too late to change things. She had secured her position and no one was brave enough to challenge her. They found that they had simply swapped one tyrant for another.”

“Why hasn’t someone just staked her through the heart?” It seemed like an obvious solution to me.

“She has too many guards and too many servants for anyone to get close enough to her to kill her. What most don’t realize is that she made them herself so they can’t be bribed to turn against her.”

“Yet the Japanese imposter pretending to be me almost got to her,” I pointed out. “I nearly got to her, too.”

Luc took my hand briefly and planted a kiss on my knuckles. “I am grateful to you for relieving her of one of her hands.”

“It was the least I could do,” I replied with a smirk and meant it quite sincerely.

“The Comtesse’s plan for you did not work as well as she’d hoped.” We both briefly thought of how I’d been chopped up and stuffed into multiple boxes. It was a pity for her I’d managed to piece myself back together again. “Despite the prophecy,” Luc continued, “she did not truly believe Mortis would be un-killable.”

I love it when he talks about me in the third person, I thought sardonically. “Yeah, that’s a bonus for me.”

“I am very glad you were able to make yourself whole again, Natalie.”

The look Luc sent me made me feel almost warm inside for a second. “Me, too.” I swallowed down the lump that wanted to form in my throat. I didn’t have time to get all mushy. Not when we had a bunch of vampires to track down.

By the time we stopped to search for a place to hide for the day, we had closed the distance between us and the courtiers only a little. I’d tried to sense them earlier but it was difficult to concentrate while we were on the move. All I could tell was that we were heading in the right direction.

Luc chose a hotel and hired a room several floors up from our friends. I wasn’t the least bit embarrassed to have loud, satisfying sex with him this time. A human fist banged on the wall and a muffled voice shouted for us to keep it down but I just ignored them. Then Luc’s phone rang and I heard Geordie’s irate voice asking us to be less noisy next time. Luc took one look at my mortified face and laughed so hard he had to sit down.

“Frigging vampire hearing,” I muttered and headed for the shower.

It was Luc’s turn to keep watch so I went to bed alone. My dreams were dark and threatening. I felt the First watching me, waiting for an opening so he could pounce. I sensed his confusion over why I hadn’t already been drawn to his cavern of doom after he’d ordered my shadow to rise. Like most vampires, he’d heard of the legend of Mortis. He knew I was the doom of our kind but no one really knew what that meant. I wasn’t like the other undead and therefore was unpredictable.

Waking just as the sun slipped over the horizon, I took a few minutes to focus and check on the group we were tailing. We were at a safe enough distance that they’d never know we were following them. As before, they were heading north-east.

I also picked up on a growing number of small groups of vampires, all heading in roughly the same direction. The courtiers weren’t the only ones being called to the cavern of doom. It seemed like every possessed vampire in Europe was on their way to join the First’s army.

Sitting on a rickety chair at the tiny two-seater table, Luc ventured a question. “Are we still heading in the right direction?”

“I think so.” Rubbing my face, I tried to rid myself of the unclean feeling from having the First prying at my mind. “They don’t seem to be deviating from their path.”

Driving down a scarcely populated highway later that night, we had our first inkling of where the First might have his lair. Mind numbingly boring classical music, the only kind Luc would listen to, was playing quietly on the radio when a reporter suddenly broke in. She spoke in a foreign language that my freaky brain interpreted automatically. “Reports have just come in of an invasion in the Russian Federation.” Luc and I exchanged alarmed glances and goose bumps erupted on my arms.

“The army was called in after reports of,” the reporter hesitated as she re-read her notes before continuing, “strange beings attacking villagers and dragging them away. It is unknown who or what these beings are. What is known is that many people are now missing or dead.”

If I’d had any live blood in my head, it would have drained away. “Oh my G-G-G. Argh!” Would I ever remember I was restricted from saying the lord’s name out loud? Don’t count on it, my subconscious said nastily.

“It would seem the First is making his move for world domination.” Luc’s tone was calm enough but his hands were white on the steering wheel. Whiter than usual, that was. His phone rang and he fished it out of his pocket and handed it to me.

“Hi, Gregor,” I said without checking the screen. Who else could it be? As renegades, we were on our own against the rest of the European vampire nation. It was doubtful any of the courtiers would be calling Luc for a friendly chat.

“Did you both hear?” Gregor was a lot less calm than Luc was pretending to be. We’d known this was coming but it was still hard to believe the time had finally come.

“Yeah, we heard.”

“Well, your senses have been leading us in the correct direction if we’re heading for Russia,” he said in a falsely hearty tone. “The humans will now be aware that they aren’t the only intelligent race on this planet. They might even become aware of our existence.” His last sentence came out sounding a trifle hysterical.

One of the oldest vampire rules was that we were forbidden to allow humans to become aware of our existence. To do so would mean our instant death. I could understand Gregor’s nervousness. He’d spent the past few thousand years pretending that he didn’t exist.

“The imps don’t look even remotely human anymore let alone like us,” I reminded him. “Plus, they’re living, breathing, breeding things now. Unless one of us is stupid enough to get caught, no one will ever know that vampires exist at all.”

Gregor calmed a bit at my soothing reminder that our grey skinned brethren couldn’t be traced back to us. Unless someone stumbles across a sample of imp and vampire blood and compares the two. Then they would figure it out pretty quickly. I decided to keep that thought to myself.

“Yes, you are right, of course,” Gregor said with relief. “We can only hope that no one from the Court falls into the army’s clutches.”

It was unthinkable that humans might become aware of us. I shuddered to think what the results might be if they did. Instinct and common sense told me it wouldn’t end well for our kind.

Chapter Eight

Dawn was closing in and we needed to find somewhere safe to hide for the day. We were on a highway again and there were very few cars at this late hour. Igor flashed his lights and Luc allowed him to overtake us. The grizzled Russian had a plan in mind so we followed him when he took an exit.

Our exit took us through a small cluster of houses that could hardly be described as a town. The dwellings huddled beneath a low sky that promised rain sometime in the next few hours. I wasn’t sure which country we were currently in but the houses seemed very rustic with overlapping shingles on their roofs and uneven stones for walls. It looks like we’ve stepped back to medieval times. All we needed was a bunch of peasants toiling in the fields and the scene would have been complete.

Igor pulled up in front of the largest building. A sign proclaimed that it was an inn. Peering up through the windscreen at the second and third floors, I wasn’t happy with the state of the windows. There were no shutters and the curtains looked flimsy to me. Luc seemed to share my misgivings but climbed out anyway. Unless we squished into the trunk of the car for the day, the inn was our only choice of shelter.

A tiny bell above the door tinkled when Igor entered. We trooped in after him, hiding our weapons in our luggage. I wrinkled my nose at the musty, unclean smell. Exposed beams gave the inn an even more rustic atmosphere. The threadbare carpet was decades old and had turned almost black beneath layers of dust. Deer heads had been mounted on the walls and stared at us with glassy, blind inattention.

Slumped over a battered desk with his face lying on a girly magazine, the clerk was snoring hard enough to make the pages flutter. Geordie eyed the large breasted girl on the cover with interest. Igor gave the kid a flat stare, thankfully preventing him from making any inappropriate comments.

Gregor cleared his throat loudly but the clerk didn’t even twitch. Geordie giggled and I sniggered along with him. Igor took matters into his own hands and stumped forward to thump his fist on the desk.

The clerk woke with a small scream and sat up in fright. Seeing five customers waiting to be served, his face turned scarlet at being caught sleeping on the job. Mustering a smile, he fumbled beneath the desk and pulled out an ancient book. “Welcome to my inn!” His smile widened, revealing crooked yellow teeth. “How many rooms would you like?”

I had no idea what language he was speaking but Gregor answered him easily enough. “Four, if there are enough available.” Even he and Igor must need a break from Geordie at times. The three of them usually shared a room. Judging from the lack of noise coming from upstairs, the inn was totally empty.

“Of course. I have plenty of rooms available.” Eyes bugging at his good fortune, the clerk swivelled the book around so we could register. He hunted through a drawer for some keys as Gregor picked up the pen.

We each used a fake name on the register then took the keys and headed upstairs. The room Luc entered was even mustier than it was downstairs. I picked up a pillow, smacked it hard and watched generations of dust fall to the floor. “What a crap hole,” I muttered sulkily.

“Would you prefer to sleep in the trunk of our car?” Luc asked me.

“It would probably be cleaner than this place,” was my snide response.

We took a shower together and the hot water cut off before my dark companion could get any ideas about jumping me. From the tortured groaning of the pipes, the plumbing was even more ancient than the carpet.

It was Luc’s turn to stay awake again. Once the sun made its appearance and we were sure our friends were asleep, we used the opportunity to engage in a bout of sexual gymnastics. Keeping the human in mind, I tried not to make too much noise.

Muffling a groan of pain as I snapped his spine, Luc rolled off me onto the dusty carpet. The bed would have collapsed if we’d tried to utilize it for this purpose. “Sorry,” I said as his bones began to repair themselves.

Sending me a wry smile, Luc levered himself to his feet and held his hand out to help me up. “You should never apologize for giving me such pleasure, Natalie.”

“I just can’t seem to stop myself from hurting you.” While I loved having sex with Luc, I hated causing him pain.

Guilt and sadness crossed his face fleetingly. “It is no more than I deserve after what I did to you.”

We both knew he was talking about the time he’d cut my head off. “That wasn’t your fault, Luc. The praying mantis is to blame for that and, believe me, she is going to pay.” I’d never been all that devoted to keeping my promises before but this was one I wasn’t going to shirk.

Amused by my nickname for his maker, Luc kissed me on the temple and handed me my shirt. “You should try to get some rest.”

I shivered at a cold draught of air that crept in through a crack in the wall. Sparks flared in the fireplace when the breeze reached it. Despite the flames, the room was still too chilly for me. Putting the t-shirt back on, I flicked as much dust off the covers as was possible and turned the pillow over. It was far cleaner on the other side. Since I didn’t need to breathe, the dust couldn’t get up my nose and make me sneeze. As I fell asleep, I realized I actually missed some of my former bodily functions. I hadn’t sneezed once since the night I’d died and had been reborn as the undead.

Waking the next night, I sent out my senses and was disturbed to find that one of the small packs of vampires heading for the cavern of doom had almost caught up to us. I advised the others of this as we left the inn and headed to our cars.

Gregor had an answer for how they had managed to close the distance between us. “They must have a human slave to transport them during the day.” It seemed obvious after he pointed that out.

“I’ve been thinking,” Geordie said timidly. We all turned to look at him and he hunched his thin shoulders at our stares. Apart from me, he was the youngest in vampire years and usually had little input into our strategy or discussions. Given his mischievous nature, none of us tended to take him very seriously.

“What have you been thinking?” Gregor asked with a touch of indulgence in his tone.

Unaccustomedly serious, Geordie was expecting ridicule but took a chance and voiced his opinion anyway. “What if not all of our kin in these small groups are possessed? What if they’re just being forced to join the First?”

“What difference does it make?” Igor said in response. “As soon as they reach the First, they will be lost and will become our enemies anyway.”

Nodding excitedly, Geordie was almost dancing on the spot. “That is my point exactly! Shouldn’t we try to help the unpossessed ones escape before they are turned into grey monsters?”

Gregor and Luc shared a frown. Geordie had raised a point that all of us had done our best to avoid contemplating. Now that it had been proposed out loud, I felt obligated to at least attempt to help our kin who were unwittingly being led to their hideous transformation into imps.

It seemed I wasn’t the only one to feel the guilt. “Cutting down the numbers of our kin being turned into imps would be an intelligent move,” Gregor said almost reluctantly. It would also eat into the time we should be spending hunting down the First.

Luc nodded thoughtfully. “Perhaps we should intercept the group that is nearing our location and see how many have not yet been possessed.”

Igor didn’t look happy about the decision but he wasn’t about to argue with a lord. Not even if the lord was his good friend. “How close are they, Natalie?”

Closing my eyes, I sent out my senses and felt the small group of vampires only a few kilometres away. “They’re almost on top of us.”

Gregor had already formed a plan. “They will most likely be taking the highway. I propose that we drive very quickly and find somewhere to set up a roadblock to stop them.”

We couldn’t formulate a more detailed plan until we had stopped the group. Once we saw how many possessed we were dealing with then we could decide how to proceed. For Geordie’s sake, I hoped at least a few members of the group were mere victims of their shadow-possessed masters. The teen had his undead heart set on freeing helpless vamps.

Chapter Nine

Igor quickly overtook us and made his way back to the highway. Luc kept up easily, dodging around the slower cars and keeping on the black car’s tail. To avoid anyone from calling the police, we only drove at reckless speeds when the road was clear of other traffic.

Eventually, the highway narrowed down until it was only two lanes wide. Igor parked on the side of the road and we pulled in behind him. It was after midnight and there were far fewer cars on the highway now.

Gathering in a circle, we quickly discussed strategy. Igor was the one with a plan this time. “Natalie, when you sense them closing in to within several kilometres of our location, Luc and I will block the road. If our luck holds, no other cars will approach while we deal with the group.”

“We three can hide in the gully,” Gregor pointed to a deep ditch running alongside the road. “Once our kin exit from their vehicle, Natalie can determine which of them have been possessed by their shadows. We will target them first.”

I glanced up at the cloudy sky. As I’d predicted, it had rained while we’d been sleeping. The cloud cover meant there was no moonlight to cast shadows. I wasn’t sure how I was going to tell who was possessed.

Luc had the same thought and offered a solution. “Igor and I will angle our cars so that the headlights illuminate the road.”

“Good thinking,” I said with a smile and Geordie automatically scowled. I felt like smacking him upside the head like the others frequently felt compelled to do but restrained myself. Now wasn’t the time for childishness from either of us.

We’d sped quite a distance away from the small group and had to wait for nearly an hour until I finally sensed them closing in. At my nod, Igor and Luc climbed into their cars. There were no other vehicles in sight so they pulled across the highway, blocking it almost completely. As planned, they angled the cars so that their headlights shone across the road.

Moments later, light bloomed. Gregor, Geordie and I had already scrambled out of sight into the ditch. We kept low as a van approached. If we were spotted, our ruse would be blown. The vehicle slowed down several hundred feet away from the blockade and came to a stop. Igor and Luc were almost invisible behind the bright lights of their cars. They kept their weapons out of sight.

“Get out and see what the problem is,” a guttural voice ordered from within the van. It hadn’t spoken in our father’s alien language but I’d bet anything the speaker was a sentient shadow using its vampire host as a puppet.

I poked my head up in time to see the driver’s door open and a human male climb out. He walked with the jerky movements I associated with someone who was deeply under hypnosis. It was a wonder he could drive while in that condition.

Rustling and twitching came from the back of the black van. Without windows, I could only guess at how many vampires were crammed inside. From the size of the vehicle, I estimated there would be no more than six or seven of our kin in there.

As ordered, the human approached our blockade and stopped a few feet away. His shadow stretched out behind him, thin black legs incredibly long. “Why are you blocking the road?” he asked in drugged sounding French. He lifted a hand to shade his eyes from the glare.

“We are police officers,” Luc lied smoothly. “There is a problem ahead and we were ordered to set up a road block here.”

Unable to think his way through the problem, the slave half turned back to the van for further instructions. A forced sigh came from the passenger side of the black vehicle then the door creaked open. “Stay out of sight,” the voice commanded the unseen passengers. The speaker’s shadow was unsurprisingly revealed to be a gigantic, slump shouldered horror upon exiting the van.

Geordie was quivering in fright beside me, clutching his knife to his thin chest. Gregor was tense but outwardly calm. My swords were in my hands and I didn’t even remember drawing them.

Reaching its human slave, the sentient shadow rose up, momentarily leaving its host behind. Stretching out until it resembled melted toffee, it slipped between the cars and studied Luc and Igor. It hissed in recognition when it realized they were vampires and I was on my feet as it sped backwards. Using its host as a puppet, it opened its mouth to scream for help. One of my swords burst out through the vampire’s chest and the other sent his head flying into the darkness. Wailing in anguish, the shadow immediately began to shrink. Tearing at its hair, it gnashed black teeth at me and then dissipated as its host’s body melted into slush.

Frightened murmurs came from the back of the van as Igor and Luc left the blockade to join us. The road was still clear of traffic as we surrounded the vehicle. Gregor and Igor covered the front while Luc, Geordie and I stationed ourselves at the back.

“We have you surrounded,” Luc said without raising his voice. He sounded eerily like a human cop. “Exit the van immediately or we will set it on fire.” The threat of fire was a sure way to quickly gain their cooperation.

Furiously whispered conversation was exchanged. “How do we know you won’t just kill us when we come out?” called a shaky female voice.

“You don’t,” Luc responded. “You have five seconds.” He didn’t give them time to consider the offer and started counting immediately. “One. Two. Three.” The rear door opened before he could count down any further.

Holding their hands up to show they were unarmed, six vampires disembarked from the van. Shaking and terrified, they huddled together, standing shoulder to shoulder for comfort. Luc gestured for them to move around to the front of the vehicle.

Proving he really was Igor’s apprentice, Geordie was given the task of clearing the road. He moved the van to the side of the road but left the headlights on. Igor and Luc’s cars were shifted next. With six of our number holding their hands in the air, we made a suspicious sight and I hoped no other cars would interrupt our meeting.

“What do you want from us?” the female who had called out from inside the van asked. Although she spoke in French, none of the group looked like courtiers to me. Their clothes were too shabby and they were far less attractive than any other courtiers I’d ever seen. The female spokesperson had very short auburn hair, teeth that overlapped in the front and a prominent nose. The other five were even less appealing than she was.

“What is your name?” Gregor asked her.

“Marie,” she said and swivelled to face him.

“Do you know where your master was taking you, Marie?” Gregor asked.

Marie shook her head. “Something strange happened to Antony a few nights ago. When he came back from a hunt, he was a different man. He’d also captured a slave.” She nodded towards the human. He stood by the side of the road, staring vacantly at nothing. The death of his hypnotizer hadn’t snapped him out of his daze. I figured it would wear off in its own good time.

“Your master was leading you to your doom,” Geordie said solemnly.

“What do you mean?” asked one of the male captives.

“Have you heard of the legend of the First of our kind?” Gregor asked the group. He received six nods.

“What do legends have to do with what happened to Antony?” the female asked. She lowered her hands and crossed her arms over her chest. The rest hesitated and dropped their hands as well. Standing in the light of the van, I’d been watching their shadows and none were acting independently so far. Some shadows could keep up the pretence for a while but they always gave themselves away in the end.

“He isn’t a legend,” Luc said and drew the group’s attention. “The First is very real and he has created an army of grey creatures.”

Incredulous, the female gaped at Luc. “You are speaking of the monsters attacking Russia? How is this possible?”

Headlights lit up the road and we paused until the car swished past. “It is a long story,” Gregor said, gaining their attention again. “The short version is; our Father’s blood was tainted and the taint has carried to each and every vampire ever created. Eventually, our blood transforms our shadows into sentient beings. Once this happens, they have the ability to possess us. Your master was possessed and was answering the call the First has sent out. You were being taken to his lair where you would all be turned into what our friend here calls ‘imps’.”

At Gregor’s nod in my direction, six heads swivelled around to view me. “Who are you?” Marie asked.

“I am Mortis,” I replied. I expected screaming, panic and attempts to flee and was surprised when the female started giggling.

“Mortis isn’t real,” she told me when she recovered herself. “She’s just a fairy tale told to fledglings to make them obey the rules.”

Clearly, a demonstration would be required. Putting my swords back in the sheaths that crisscrossed my back, I held my hands up with the palms facing the small group. This time, the predicted screams issued forth. One of the vamps managed to slip between Geordie and me and tried to run. I let him get fifty feet away before chasing after him.

Putting on a burst of speed, I leaped into the air. Wind blew my hair back and rushed through my ears then I landed in front of the fleeing lackey and turned to face him. Shocked that I’d managed to get ahead of him, he skidded to a stop and landed on his backside. His feet scrambled for purchase but I didn’t give him the chance to scurry away again.

Grabbing him by the ankle, I dragged him back to the group and dropped him in their midst.

“Are you going to kill us?” Marie asked in a small, frightened voice.

“Only if anyone makes me chase them again,” I said darkly.

“None of us are going to kill you,” Gregor soothed them while frowning at me. “We were trying to prevent any unpossessed kin from being taken to the First’s lair.”

“What are you going to do with us?” asked one of the others.

Gregor looked momentarily dumbfounded. None of us had thought that far ahead. Privately, I’d expected the entire group to have been taken over by their shadows. What the hell do we do with them now? Taking them with us wasn’t an option. Not if we wanted to remain unnoticed. The larger our group became, the more attention we’d attract.

“Maybe they should head back to the mansion,” Geordie said timidly. “Someone needs to look after the place.”

“Are you speaking of the Court’s home?” Marie asked. “Our master took us there once, to show us what we could never be a part of.” The group looked sad, as if they had missed out on something wonderful. Once they found the catacombs and saw what kind of conditions they would have been living in, their opinion would swiftly change.

Gregor gave them a sympathetic look but I knew how crafty he was. He was ten steps ahead of me and had some plan in mind already. “We are at war with both the Council and the First. When the war is over, we will be greatly diminished in numbers. Now is your chance to be a part of a new and far better family.”

While I liked Gregor’s confidence that we would come out as the victors, I wasn’t sure about his idea that we’d make a big happy clan. In my limited experience, when vampires gathered in numbers, bad things happened to humans. The only exception to this that I’d seen so far was the Japanese vampire nation. They’d managed to coexist with their food for thousands of years. If they could do it, maybe we could pull it off as well. Or maybe you will all die at the hands of the First and the humans will end up as cattle. I heaved a silent sigh at the continued negative thinking of my subconscious.

“No one will try to stop us from living in the Court mansion?” one of the male vamps asked. His expression was hopeful beneath the layers of grime that covered his face.

“There is no one left to stop you,” Geordie said. “They’re all on their way to the First’s lair.”

Marie exchanged glances with her friends. Each either nodded in agreement or shrugged to indicate they didn’t particularly care where they went. “We will go to the mansion and prepare it for your return.” Marie’s eyes skidded away from me as she made her promise. She took the dazed human by the arm and turned him around.

“One more thing,” I told the group before they headed for the van. “When we return,” if we return, “things are going to change with how we treat our food. I mean the humans,” I corrected myself.

“What do you mean?” Marie asked.

“I mean that we are no longer going to kill them or keep them in cages. We will have to find a way to feed without causing them misery.” I could tell from their blank expressions that they thought I was crazy but were too afraid to come right out and say it.

“As you say,” Marie said and urged their driver towards the van. Her reply was about as noncommittal as you could get. I wasn’t used to trying to order anyone around but surely my status as Mortis had to be good for something.

As the van turned around and headed back towards France, Geordie grinned at me. “I knew we would be able to save some of our kin.”

“A remnant shall remain,” Gregor murmured, quoting from the prophecy that had been written about me. The prophet had somehow managed to get his wires crossed somewhere along the way. It seemed that I wouldn’t ultimately be responsible for wiping out our kind. Our alien father and his tainted blood would be. I was merely the instrument that would destroy the imps we would all one day become.

Chapter Ten

It took us four more nights to close in on the migrating courtiers. We were deep in Russia by then and were still heading north-east. Twice more, we set a trap for small groups of our migrating kin. Both times, all of the vamps had been either possessed or had sentient shadows that would soon possess them. Geordie had been the most affected when we’d been forced to cut the groups down. He was on a mission to save as many of us as we could. I was on a mission to stop the First from increasing the numbers of his army.

After a long night of driving, we stopped for the day in a reasonable sized town that had a few hotels to choose from. As usual, we picked rooms on different floors in an attempt to gain a semblance of privacy.

Closing and locking the door to our room, Luc automatically switched on the TV and found a news station. It was still a shock to see the reports on imp activity. They hadn’t just attacked one town that first night but had targeted several simultaneously. Since then, they had attacked more and more small towns.

Hundreds of humans were either dead or missing. I had little doubt that those who were only missing at the moment would also soon be dead. Some would be turned into vampires and then into imps. The humans were beginning to suspect that they were no longer at the top of the food chain. Naturally, this concept was a trifle unsettling for them.

A rattled news reporter stood on the outskirts of one of the towns that had recently been raided. The army had arrived in a convoy of trucks and had cordoned off the place. The soldier’s expressions were stoic but beneath that they were shell shocked.

Bodies had been gathered in a long line and were covered in bright blue sheets of plastic. The brightly coloured, almost festive tarpaulins flapped in a breeze, giving us brief, unwanted, glimpses of the dead. Carrion birds had come from far and wide. Hunkered in groups, they waited for the guard’s attention to wander so they could sneak in for a quick snack.

“As you can see behind me,” the reporter said in Russian, “the death toll is steadily rising. The army has no answers as to why this is happening. Many believe that the end times are here and that demons have risen to punish the wicked.” The camera zoomed in on the line of bodies, stopping on a shape that was far too small to belong to an adult. “I wonder what this small child did to deserve such harsh fate?” The reporter’s tone was accusing and it hit me straight in the gut.

Luc muted the TV and I was tempted to kick it through the wall into the neighbouring room. We had to put a stop to the attacks soon because the army was doing a shitty job of it. Not a single imp had been killed or captured. So far, there had only been garbled reports from the few survivors who had managed to escape. Only one person, a teenaged girl, had managed to record any images of the imps. She’d captured a short video of one of the attacks on her mobile phone. The image of a seven foot monster dragging a kicking and screaming human off by his hair had been played over and over.

I wasn’t surprised to see that the Russians had called in help from overseas. They’d once been bitter enemies with America but now the westerners were apparently lending a hand during this crisis. I’d seen their leader, a tall, thin blonde guy, organizing troops wearing American flags on their uniforms.

“We’ll catch up to the courtiers soon,” Luc said with a smile that seemed hollow. “Then we will follow them and discover where the First has his lair.”

“Yeah, then he can turn us all into imps and we can join in on the next raiding party,” I said brightly then wished I hadn’t when he winced.

Taking a seat beside Luc on the small, lumpy couch, I took his hand. “I know the odds don’t look good that we’ll make it out of this.” He slanted me a look that said I was stating the obvious. “But something has to work in our favour. Every time I’ve been down and out, things have always worked out for me. I’m Mortis, queen of death, so I have to win.” I didn’t know if I was trying to convince Luc or myself of that.

“Are you telling me that I should have faith, Natalie?” he asked me with a wry smile.

“Um, sure.” Faith in what? Me? That was a laugh. Faith that my strange dark luck at getting myself out of scrapes would continue? Maybe. “I’m just saying you shouldn’t write us off before we’ve even had a shot at taking down the First and his offspring.”

Luc studied me for a long moment then leaned over and kissed my brow. “You are right, of course. You’ve managed to get yourself out of situations that would have left any normal vampire dead or insane.” We both knew that I was many things, but ‘normal’ wasn’t one of them. I could write a book about how abnormal I was.

Since we were so close to our quarry, I decided to wear one of my black suits when we rose the next night. They were excellent for wearing into battle and had the added advantage of making me almost invisible in the dark. Luc smirked like the dirty old vampire he was when I left the bathroom wearing the suit. “Well now, remind me to thank Emperor Ishida for gifting you with these outfits.” His hand slid down the slick leather to squeeze my butt. This wasn’t the first time he’d seen me in the outfit but the novelty obviously hadn’t worn off yet.

“You should see me in the red one,” I teased. Not that I’d even tried it on yet. I seemed to move from one crisis to the next without a break in between. It hadn’t given me much time to try on my unused suit. Luc’s eyes darkened but a knock at the door halted him before he could lower his head for a kiss.

Geordie pushed his way inside as soon as I unlocked the door. He spared a leer at my outfit then headed for the TV. “You’d better see this,” he said and switched it on. Gregor and Igor trooped inside, looking even grimer than usual.

This time, the imps had attacked a larger town. A news camera panned over streets that were littered with the dead. Limbs had been torn free and heads had been hacked off. Blood, darkened to a rusty maroon colour, covered the still forms and pooled in the streets. This was the same style of mindless carnage we’d witnessed in the catacombs beneath the Court mansion. The reporter was near tears as she tried to describe the butchery that we could all see for ourselves.

In the background, the blonde American soldier strode past with a furious glare at her. “Get these vultures out of here,” he snarled to the group of lackeys trotting after him. Two men peeled away and jogged towards the camera crew. I doubted any humans watching the broadcast would have heard the order, it had been uttered very quietly.

“They are increasing their attacks, which means they have grown in number,” Gregor said as Geordie muted the TV.

“We must be close to their lair by now,” Igor deduced. By the way he was clutching his knife, he was eager to go into battle.

Luc turned to me. “You’d better try to sense them before we leave, Natalie. We don’t want to walk into a trap.”

Nodding, I closed my eyes and sent out my senses. I’d gotten a lot better at putting aside distractions. Even Geordie’s quiet comment that he’d like to peel me out of the suit was easily ignored. So was the kick Igor launched at the teen and the mischievous giggle that followed when Geordie successfully dodged out of the way.

Sweeping the area to the north-east, I frowned when I came up blank. Widening the search, I frowned harder. All four men were regarding me with worry when I opened my eyes again. “What’s wrong?” Luc asked.

“I can’t sense them. It’s like they’ve disappeared.”

Gregor had an answer for my dilemma. “Then we must be closer than we thought. They’ve entered the First’s cavern and he is masking their presence from you.”

“Now what?” Geordie demanded. “Do we search the country blindly until we stumble across a big cave?” One thing about Geordie that both amused and annoyed me was his ability to be even more sarcastic than me at times.

“I think we should question someone from the army,” Igor suggested. “They will have extensive knowledge of the towns that have been attacked. They may have narrowed down where the imps disappear to each day.”

That was the thing that had the humans so puzzled. The imps only attacked at night and then seemed to vanish during the day. Since most of the earth’s population slept at night, they were superstitiously afraid of nocturnal creatures. Before I’d become a nocturnal creature myself, I’d also been afraid of the dark. Rats had been another thing I’d been terrified of. Thanks to my new condition as the living dead, I no longer feared either.

“They should have figured out the imps are hiding somewhere beneath the earth by now,” Luc pointed out.

Gregor fisted a hand and rested his chin on it, deep in thought. We let him think the problem through without interrupting him. He was smarter than the rest of us and we all knew it. “I think Igor’s plan has merit,” he said at last. “Questioning someone from the army is most likely our best avenue. When we stop at our next destination, we should keep our eyes peeled for a soldier we can kidnap.”

Well, at least he isn’t trying to sugar coat it. Most humans would have phrased the plan differently. It was a reminder that, while he appeared to be urbane on the surface, on the inside Gregor was a monster just like the rest of us.

With that, we trooped downstairs to our cars. Igor led this time and Luc and I followed closely behind him. We’d been driving for a couple of hours when I heard a strange whumping noise from above. “Do you hear that?” I asked Luc. It rapidly grew louder until it sounded like it was right above us.

Peering out through his window, my sombre companion pointed at the sky. “It’s a helicopter. It appears to have camouflage painting on it,” he said after a few moments of scrutiny.

Turning my attention back to the road, I saw that Igor had come to a stop and that we were about to crash into him. “Look out!” I shouted even as Luc slammed his foot on the brake. Our car slid for a few feet and came to rest just behind Igor’s larger vehicle.

A pair of semi-trailers had stopped about a hundred feet in front of Igor’s car. Smelly exhaust fumes spewed from their tailpipes, indicating that the engines were still running. The trucks were parked side by side, blocking the narrow section of highway completely. We couldn’t see who was behind the wheel, but now that we were so close, I could sense the passengers they carried.

“Um, do you remember when you said you didn’t want us to walk into a trap?” I said uneasily.

“I believe we may have just done so,” Luc replied. Before I could answer in the affirmative, headlights flooded our car from behind. Igor, Gregor and Geordie turned in dismay, peering out through their back window. Luc and I did the same but couldn’t make out much through the brightness.

Expecting to be rammed from behind, I was relieved when a truck pulled up beside us instead. Several other vehicles pulled in behind it. On the side of the truck was the unexpected symbol of the Russian army. “Huh. It looks like the cavalry has arrived,” I said in surprise.

We exchanged glances as a soldier exited from the lead truck. “I don’t think that they are quite aware they are the cavalry yet,” Luc said as the soldier unclipped a torch from his belt. He sauntered towards the idling trucks, passing Igor’s car with a brief look inside.

“The fool is going to get himself killed,” came quietly from Igor in the car ahead of us.

“Better him than us,” Geordie muttered.

The soldier was halfway to the semis when the doors were thrown open. Crammed in together, the imps looked more than ever like clones. The soldier froze in shock at his first live sighting of the imp army. Grey skinned monsters with batlike faces pointed at our cars and roared in rage. Orange eyes blinked and squinted against the headlights of the army vehicles shining at them. All wore tattered loincloths that had one been human clothing, sacks or any other scraps of material they could find to cover their nakedness.

Finally understanding what he was looking at, the lone soldier fumbled for his weapon. “It’s the unknown entities! Mow them down!” he screamed in Russian. His handgun was small but the bullets took down three of the imps with head shots. Soldiers boiled out from the army vehicles, taking cover and firing at the First’s progeny.

Luc wasted no time in reversing out of the fray. He pulled the car over to the side of the road at what he judged to be a safe distance from any stray bullets that might come our way. Igor parked just in front of us. We exited our cars and scrambled up a low hill to observe the confrontation. The helicopter circled above, shining a light on the darker areas of battle.

While they were big, strong and ugly, the imps fell easily enough beneath the hail of gunfire. Black blood flew as the first few ranks went down with their limbs and heads blown apart. Much faster and far more savage than the humans, dozens of imps leaped clear of the trucks and ran toward the soldiers. The night was rent with gunfire and shrieks of pain, terror and primordial roars of triumph.

Once the two sides clashed, the odds turned dramatically in the imp’s favour. With their longer reach, they were able to tear arms off before the soldiers could even aim their weapons. A few of the monsters picked up fallen weapons and turned them on the Russians. I’d witnessed them using guns before but this behaviour indicated a level of intelligence that disturbed me. Most of the imps I’d come across so far had struck me as being one step up from drooling idiots.

I’d taken a rough count of imps as they’d launched themselves from the truck and there were at least a hundred. They’d been crammed in the back of the trucks like cattle going to the slaughter. The slaughter they’d planned had been meant for me and my friends but the army had inadvertently come to our aid. Now the soldiers who bravely faced the ‘unknown entities’ were being decimated.

“If the soldiers hadn’t come along, we’d be dog food by now,” Geordie said in shocked wonder.

“It was pretty lucky for us they turned up,” I replied. Deep down, I wondered if this was luck or fate. I hated being at the mercy of something I didn’t even really believe in but in this instance I wasn’t about to complain.

After the initial flurry of activity, half of the imps had been cut down. The soldiers had been outnumbered two to one to begin with and the numbers were still the same now. Twenty or so men took shelter behind their vehicles, taking pot shots at the imps whenever one stuck its head out far enough.

Falling back to their trucks, the remaining forty-odd imps had a short meeting. Several pointed to us on the hilltop while the others shouted them down. “They’re trying to decide whether to come directly for us or to finish off the soldiers first,” Gregor said with calm detachment.

Clutching a machete tightly, Igor shared his thoughts. “If I were them, I’d split into two teams. I’d send one to distract the soldiers and the other to target us.”

“It appears the imps have chosen your method,” Luc observed as half of the imps wheeled off and ran in our direction. The remaining half surged towards the soldiers. Most had armed themselves and both groups started firing at either us or at the soldiers.

I’d left the backpack in the car but my twin swords crisscrossed my back. I drew the blades and raced down the hill to meet the monsters. Luc, Gregor and Igor weren’t far behind me. With a roar, an imp raised his gun to shoot me point blank in the face. One of my swords sheared his arm off before he could shoot me. The severed limb hit the ground and bullets sprayed the area when his finger clamped down on the trigger. Several imps shrieked in pain as the projectiles shattered their shins or ankles.

I stabbed the imp through the heart then moved on to the next one. Luc was at my back, using a sword Igor had given him to slice and defend as the monsters tried to overwhelm me. I was their true target and they were determined to take me down. Calmly and methodically, I speared hearts and sliced throats as I worked my way into the centre of the group.

Ignoring my friends, the imps surged forward and piled on top of me. Are they trying to kill me or have I stumbled into a football game? As more of the creatures joined the pile, it backed up my theory that they weren’t particularly bright. Even a normal vampire would recover after being crushed. Well, as far as I knew they would.

A mouth closed around my left hand and bit it off. The imp grimaced at the taste and spat my hand back out again. When he started convulsing, I came to the conclusion that my blood wasn’t particularly healthy for them. Poor Lefty scrambled back into position and reattached itself to my arm with a brief flash of pain. The teeth marks healed instantly without a trace. The imp convulsed a few more times, black blood poured from his mouth, which seemed to be growing bigger by the second. Only when he gasped out a last breath and went still did I realize half of his face had melted away. I wondered if all vampire blood had that effect on imps or if it was just mine.

Pinned to the ground and unable to squirm my way free, I grabbed two heads as multiple imps tried to tear me limb from limb. For the most part, their grasping hands slipped off my leather suit instead of closing tight. Concentrating hard, I gathered my will and let it build before flinging it into the two monsters. Instead of their heads exploding, at first nothing happened. Then the ground started to shiver, a shockwave went out and imps were suddenly flying through the air.

Sitting up, dazedly wondering what had just happened, I surveyed the carnage in shock. I’d only had two imp heads in my hands but somehow every single monster that had been in the pile was now a headless ruin. Even the imp that had died after biting off Lefty was now headless. Holy crap! That was awesome! At times like this, I was actually glad to be Mortis. Even I was amazed at what I could do sometimes.

“Chérie,” Geordie whispered in disbelief, “how did you do that?”

“I have no idea,” was my still dazed response.

Overhead, the helicopter circled with its spotlight now shining directly on me. Uh oh. That can’t be good. The bulk of the soldiers had been distracted by the imps shooting at them so I hadn’t been worried about being spotted in action by them. I’d completely forgotten about the chopper flying above us. Whoever was up there had just witnessed the entire mini battle. The chances of vampires remaining as merely an unconfirmed suspicion had just dropped dramatically.

Chapter Eleven

“I believe it would be prudent for us to leave now,” Gregor announced with more than a hint of nervousness. Luc and Igor lifted me to my feet then we were all running back towards our cars.

As we sprinted, the light from the chopper shone down on us brightly, throwing my friend’s shadows into sharp relief on the ground. I ran with four shadows overlapping each other. They almost seemed to be jockeying for position. I told myself it was just my imagination due to increased adrenalin from the fight and kept on running. Even my subconscious was quiet on this topic, blessedly keeping its insights to itself for once.

“We should split up and meet again once we lose the helicopter,” Igor suggested as we neared the edge of the hill. On the road below us, the soldiers rallied and swarmed out from behind their cover to engage the remaining twenty imps. The humans mainly ignored us as we slid down the slope. A few of the imps roared in frustration when they realized we were about to escape. Sustained gunfire from the panicked soldiers prevented them from following us.

Even before I’d pulled my door shut, Luc stepped on the accelerator. Hooking around in a tight circle, we sped off into the darkness. Momentarily hesitating over the battle site uncertainly, the chopper quickly wheeled after us in pursuit.

Igor was right on our tail, practically nudging our back bumper. Then his headlights swung away as he turned off onto a side road. Luc and I continued onwards before making a turn of our own.

“The soldiers have most likely radioed for backup and we might find ourselves surrounded again,” Luc said as he sped along the rutted, badly maintained road. He nearly always managed to keep his cool. Being seven hundred years old had its advantages. Sure, he’d gone briefly insane when I’d been cut to pieces then boxed up to starve to death but that was only because he loved me.

“What’s your plan?” I hoped he had one because, as usual, I had nothing. Spur of the moment thinking would never be my strong suit.

While he might not be a master planner like Gregor, Luc was much better at thinking on his feet than I was. “We’ll head for the nearest town and ditch the car. We can steal another one and be on our way easily enough.”

He might think it was easy to fool the humans but I wasn’t so sure. The chopper stuck to us like a squashed bug on a windscreen. The bright spotlight rarely left our rooftop. We were too far from civilization at the moment to think of taking off on foot. There were very few places to hide out in the countryside.

Following road signs, Luc chose roads that became more and more populated with traffic. People quickly swerved out of the way to give us room when they saw we were being escorted by the damming ring of bright light.

“What if they’ve set up a road block?” I asked as our car sped around a much slower farm truck. Pigs stared at me stupidly between the slats of wood penning them in.

Luc must have already thought of the possibility because he had an answer ready. “Then we will split up and travel on foot. I will find somewhere safe to hide and you will be able to sense where I am and find me.” It sounded very logical so I decided not to worry unless it became necessary.

Minutes later, we topped a small rise and worry kicked in again. In the distance, numerous lights announced that we were near a town. Much closer, the darkness was pierced by the red and blue flashing lights of a string of police cars that blocked the road. Army trucks were parked beyond the cop cars, making the barrier impenetrable by car.

A long line of vehicles were stopped ahead of us. Soldiers were working their way down the line, checking each car with guns held ready and shining flashlights into faces. With the helicopter light shining directly on us, we made a fairly obvious target. Alerted either by their radios or by the searchlight, soldier’s heads whipped in our direction. Drawing their weapons, they began closing in.

Luc turned and gave me a quick kiss. “I’ll see you soon, Natalie.” Then he was gone, racing away from the car before the chopper had a chance to follow him with their spotlight.

Grabbing my backpack from the back seat, I shouldered it and exited the car. Soldiers began shouting at me in Russian to lie on the ground and to put my hands on my head. Screw that, I’m out of here. With a small wave at the men, I followed Luc’s lead and darted off into the night. Gunfire chased me but I’d already faded into the dark and none came close to hitting me.

The chopper might be fast but so was I. It made a valiant effort but it really had no chance of getting a lock on me with all the dodging and weaving I was doing. It was much easier to evade the persistent flying machine on foot. I led the chopper away from the town, heading for a forest in the distance.

Wind whipped my hair back as I raced over grass and leaped over fences and bushes that made a pitiful attempt to impede me. Entering the forest, I was instantly enclosed by tall trees and thick underbrush. The chopper circled, vainly trying to catch sight of me. Afraid I’d get lost if I traversed too deep into the trees, I remained on the edges and moved a couple of kilometres away from where I’d entered.

With the helicopter futilely searching the forest far in the distance, I put on a burst of speed and broke out from under cover, heading for the lights of the town. By now, the army would be aware that they weren’t dealing with normal humans. The show I’d put on when we’d been fighting the imps would have ensured that. The soldiers would be pretty eager to get their hands on us so they could try to figure out what we were. It was still a mystery to me how I’d managed to pop a bunch of the monster’s heads all at once. However I’d done it, it had come in very handy.

Only when I reached the outskirts of the town did I slow down to a fast jog. Before attempting to sense Luc, I stopped for a meal. It was late enough that most people were in bed. The pickings were going to be very slim.

Hearing heavy, clomping, footsteps down a side street, I hurried to investigate. Peering around the corner, I spied a lone soldier. He was probing dark areas with his flashlight and whistling quietly. Despite the fracas at the roadblock, he wasn’t exactly on full alert.

Creeping up on him silently, I reached out and spun him around. With a strangled yelp, he poked his machine gun into my chest. Before he could pull the trigger and shred my torso to pieces, I caught his eyes. Instantly mesmerized, he smiled happily and the gun drooped in his hands. “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” he said in Russian.

I didn’t have time to argue with him so ignored the comment. “Sleep,” I told him and he became dead weight. Holding his bulk easily, I gently turned his head and sank my fangs into his neck. It didn’t take long to fill the half empty hole in my stomach. When I was done, I sat the man down against a wall and put the gun on his lap. The twin puncture wounds on his neck were already healing and would soon become small scabs that might be mistaken for mosquito bites. If I’d had more time, I would have questioned him about the army’s knowledge of the imps. Since I didn’t have time and he might not even understand English, I decided not to.

Now to find Luc. Closing my eyes, I sent out my senses and found a vampire on the far side of town. Unable to distinguish anything more than that, I stealthily jogged through the streets. The lone soldier I’d stumbled across wasn’t the only one patrolling the town. I dodged two more as I made my way towards my target. The pickings hadn’t been quite as slim as I’d predicted.

Sensing the vampire dead ahead, I searched the street and couldn’t see anyone, alive or undead. “Luc!” I called and a dark head popped up from behind a five foot high wooden fence.

“We need to hurry,” Luc said in greeting as I reached him and entered through the gate. If anyone just happened to glance out their windows, I didn’t want them to see me vaulting over the fence. “More soldiers are entering the town to search for us. I don’t want to become pinned down.” While we were fast on our feet, cars were faster still. We needed to find a suitable vehicle, quickly.

“They’ll have roadblocks set up at all the exits by now,” I deduced.

“We will have to take a different route then,” Luc said enigmatically and headed for the back of the property.

Rounding the house, my attention was drawn to a beat up old jeep. Mossy green, it was caked in mud and dead insects. “Nice,” I complimented my companion sarcastically on his choice of transportation. He gave me a quick grin then jogged to the fence. Only when he swung open a hidden gate did I notice the muddy tyre tracks leading out to a grassy field. Whoever lived here had created their own private road in and out of town. Maybe they had some kind of illegal smuggling operation going on. “You think you’re clever, don’t you?” I said in mock admiration.

“Yes,” Luc replied with a smug smile then set about hotwiring the jeep.

Seconds later, he drove out through the gate. I swung it shut, making sure it latched before climbing inside. Luc propelled us down a muddy track away from the town. He handed me his phone and I called the others to see how they’d fared. With Igor behind the wheel, I’d be very surprised if they had been caught.

“Natalie!” a relieved Gregor said when he answered after just one ring. “Are you and Lucentio alright?”

“We’re fine. We ran into a police barricade but managed to get away on foot and meet up again.”

“Where are you now?” he asked. I told him the name of the small town we’d just fled from and heard the rustle of paper as he consulted a map. Igor knew Russia well but it was a big place and he couldn’t possibly know every town. “We’re a couple of hours west of you.” After a few moments of thought, Gregor formulated a plan. “A city several hours from here should be suitable for us to use as a base. It will also hopefully be too large for the imps to attack. Head west and try to remain incognito.”

Luc overheard Gregor’s instructions and indicated his willingness to go along with the plan with a short nod. “Ok,” I said. “We’ll find you guys when we reach the town.”

“Tell ma chérie that I miss her,” Geordie said in the background. Gregor hung up without repeating the message, knowing I would have heard the kid. I rolled my eyes but couldn’t hide a smirk. The teen was frequently annoying but at least he made me laugh. Luc showed no sign of jealousy and he had no need for it. We both knew I’d rather jump his bones than Geordie’s any day.

Following Gregor’s advice, Luc stuck to the back streets to avoid running into any more troops. Despite its beat up appearance, the jeep turned out to be an excellent choice of transportation. It bounced over potholes and badly eroded dirt roads with ease.

We drove until dawn was knocking on the door of our subconscious, alerting us that the sun would soon be here to burn us to death. Well, burn Luc to death anyway. In the back of my mind, I wondered how long it would be before we ran into another imp trap or army barricade. The odds were definitely against us now that the soldiers were aware of our existence. Now we had two enemies to worry about instead of one.

Despite my presentiment of doom, we reached our destination without encountering any obstacles. I sensed three vampires to the east of town and we were soon pulling into an underground parking lot of a shabby hotel.

I dialled Gregor’s phone as Luc pulled to a stop. “We’re here,” I said before he could give me a greeting. We didn’t have time for pleasantries, the sun would be up very soon now.

“Just in time,” was Gregor’s crisp response. “We’ve booked you a room on the fourth floor. Igor is waiting for you inside.”

We hung up and I handed Luc back his phone as we stepped into a creaky elevator. Luc pushed the button for the fourth floor and I hid behind him. I hoped we wouldn’t encounter anyone during the short trip. The soldiers knew roughly what I looked like and the outfit I had on could be best described as ‘memorable’. The last thing we needed was for anyone to become suspicious and turn me in to the authorities. Then again, we’d probably be able to mesmerize anyone who saw me into thinking they’d never seen me at all.

“Wow, we get to stay in the nicest places,” I said in distaste as we stepped out of the elevator. The hallway that spread out before us had threadbare, mustard coloured carpet and stained brown wallpaper. One of the fluorescent lights flickered on and off, on the point of blowing out altogether. It would have been spooky if I hadn’t been an undead creature of the night.

A door opened towards the far end of the hall and Igor’s shaggy head popped out. Dawn was very close when he handed the key card to Luc. “We’ll meet in your room tomorrow night,” he advised us. “It’s my turn to keep watch so you should both get some rest.”

Rest? I wish. Luc would turn into a corpse as soon as the sun came up, reverting back to death rather than simply falling asleep. Meanwhile, I would probably toss and turn, unable to sleep due to worry and stress.

“Thank you, Igor,” Luc said with unfailing politeness. I nodded my thanks then Igor headed for the elevator.

Luc and I shared a quick shower, too keyed up to do more than wash each other’s backs. Luc was fighting against falling into unconsciousness and I was hiding yawns behind my hands. The instant his head touched the pillow, my companion was out. I lay beside him for a while, worrying about the future as I’d known I would. I was starting to wonder if we even had a future. Most likely, we would all die horribly as soon as we entered the First’s cavern of doom. A pang hit me at the thought of losing not just Luc, but all of my friends.

I can’t let them go in there, I thought as sleep finally overtook me. There was no need for all of us to die. If someone had to be sacrificed to end the First and his horde of offspring, it should be me. After all, wasn’t that ultimately the reason why I existed?

Chapter Twelve

Oppressive darkness surrounded me like a heavy blanket that I couldn’t shrug off. Turning in a slow circle, the blackness was broken by flares of orange firelight in the distance. The sight of the bonfires coupled with the unpleasant ambience was all too familiar. I had dreamed myself back into the First’s lair again.

Bracing myself for an attack, I expected the leader of the imp army to swoop down and pull my inner imp out of me. Sensing movement at my back, I spun around. At first I couldn’t quite tell what I was looking at, it was just a jumble of movement in the darkness. Then I realized my four shadows were engaged in a fight. Slapping soundlessly at each other, they looked like little kids in a schoolyard fighting over who had the next turn on the swings.

Realizing I was watching them, they quit fighting and immediately imitated my stance. It was far too late for that but they were trying to pretend that they hadn’t been acting abnormally. With the flames behind me, they were facing away. After a few seconds, one gave itself away by peeking at me over its shoulder.

I’d been waiting for something like this to happen since the First had commanded my shadows to rise. Now that the moment was here, I felt cold all the way to my bones. I might only be dreaming this but my dreams had a disturbing tendency of coming true. If my shadows were becoming sentient, then I was now one gigantic step closer to becoming possessed. Dread and despair flooded through me. How could I possibly stop myself from being turned into a puppet?

Screams of torment echoed from the far side of the cavern. It was feeding time again and a fresh batch of humans was being spitted for the roast. Knowing it was inevitable, I started drifting towards the bonfires. This time, I was floating again rather than walking but at least I had control over my direction. I caught sight of my shadows drifting along behind me. Three of them were in an elbowing match, vying for room. It cheered me up slightly that they didn’t seem to be getting along. I would have been a heck of a lot more worried if they’d been cooperating with each other.

The gigantic cavern had seemed a lot larger when it had been occupied by only a few hundred humans, vampires and imps. Now it almost seemed small. The cages holding the humans had grown in number and took up one whole wall of the cavern. The tents where the unpossessed vampires had once stayed were gone. A glance at the throng told me that no unpossessed vamps remained at all now. Their shadows had either ascended or they’d been turned into imps. A quick count told me there were only a couple of hundred possessed vamps left.

Thousands of grey skinned imps stood or crouched in ragged rows, waiting to be fed. The possessed vampires had been relegated to kitchen duty since they no longer had anyone left to order around. They had ceased their usual useless posturing and grandstanding and had become subservient to the creatures they themselves would soon become.

Even with her shadow using her as a puppet, I recognized the white-blonde hair of the Comtesse. Looking through her hulking shadow to the form beneath, I grinned nastily at the bedraggled vampire’s appearance. Her once beautiful golden gown was now dirty and torn. Human blood stained the expensive fabric. She’d lost her shoes and tiny, bare white feet shuffled in the dirt as she reached for a new human snack.

I’d cut off her left hand the night I’d broken Luc free but it didn’t seem to impede her at all. She grabbed the man one of her former underlings shoved forward and tucked him beneath her stumpy arm. Taking a metal rod that another lackey offered, she rammed it through the guy’s head. His screams halted instantly and she fed the pole through until it exited him through the far end. It could have been worse, I thought almost distantly while fighting down the urge to dry heave. Yeah, she could have started at the other end.

Working feverishly, the former members of the Court roasted humans and handed the cooked remains to the waiting army of imps. How the mighty have fallen, I gloated. Only a few days ago, the Comtesse and her fellow Council members had ruled the European vampire nation. Now they and their glittering courtiers had been reduced to being slaves for the First’s offspring. I couldn’t conceive of a more fitting end for the praying mantis.

Helpless to resist, I skirted the bonfires and floated into the shadows beside the caged humans. All had been stripped of their clothing and of their dignity. Some had sunken to the ground in defeat, staring into space with blank eyes that held no hope. Others raged, banging their fists on the bars, screaming to be let out or begging for rescue.

My dead heart twisted at the sight of children crammed in amongst the adults. A little girl of four or five held her tiny hands out to me through the bars. Tears welled then ran down her dirty face silently. “I’ll save you,” I whispered to her. “I promise I’ll get you out of here.” Just how I was going to accomplish that was something I hadn’t figured out yet.

Beyond the army of hungry imps, I spied the First. He sat on his throne made of human bones with his head resting on his fist. I couldn’t be entirely sure but he seemed to be brooding.

Large red eyes brightened when he saw me drifting through the crowd. “Ah, Mortis!” Sitting up straight, the First beckoned me closer. “You are here at last.”

“Yep,” I replied, “here I am.” And I am sooooo not happy to be here. More dread about what he was going to do to me welled up, making me want to gibber. I kept hold of my poise but just barely.

Throwing out his arms, he encompassed his entire army. “Tell me, what do you think of my children?”

Turning my head, I took in the nearly identical monsters. The only thing that distinguished them from each other was that half had boobs and the rest didn’t. A lot of the ones with boobs also had grotesquely bulging stomachs. An area off to the far right had been turned into a crèche. Young imps were in various stages of growing up from newly born to mostly grown. They fought over roasted human flesh like vultures over a half rotten carcass. “I think they’re butt ugly and should never have been born,” I said with utmost honesty.

“That isn’t a nice way to talk about your brothers and sisters,” the creature said mockingly. Peering past me, he gave a start at the sight of my four shadows. “So, this is why you haven’t come to me in person yet.” He was disturbed but tried to hide it behind a veneer of nonchalance. “How is it that you have gathered such a collection of shadows?”

I didn’t see any harm in telling him the truth. “I have the blood of four different vampires in my system.”

Lifting a hairless brow, the First pondered the dilemma. Well used to being different from every other vampire on the planet, I still felt like a freak under his scrutiny. The being before me was the first of us all and I was a puzzle even to him. “Why did you not simply die when you ingested the blood of the second vampire?”

“I didn’t drink it, it was poured directly onto my heart.”

Waving the explanation away, he scowled. “It should not matter how the blood was passed to you, you should have died.”

A shrug was my answer. “I am Mortis,” I said simply. “Lots of things don’t kill me that kill the rest of my kind.” I wasn’t about to recite the list to him. He might figure out what could kill me through a process of elimination.

Definitely brooding now, the First studied my shadows. They hid behind me, cowering beneath his glare. “I am the First and I am your ruler,” he said to the pack ominously. Pointing a claw at the shadows, he stood to his entire eight foot height and towered over us. My shadows, knowing who their true master was, quailed. Instead of fighting amongst themselves, they were now clustered together in fright. “I command you to rise!” the First bellowed.

My shadows immediately fell back to slapping at each other again. Almost giddy with relief that I hadn’t become possessed, I glanced over my shoulder at the squabbling pack. “They’re like a bunch of naughty toddlers. I can’t take them anywhere,” I said with mock despair as I started drifting away. My silhouettes followed me, still childishly fighting for supremacy.

Sitting back down on his throne, the First returned to brooding in earnest. “This means nothing,” he shouted at me as I ghosted past his army. “One shadow shall prevail against the others and then you will be mine!”

“Yeah, yeah, blah, blah,” I said as I woke from the dream. Luc, in the act of dressing, gave me a mild stare. “You won’t believe the dream I just had,” I said as I threw the covers back.

“Perhaps you should wait for the others to join us before you tell me about it,” he suggested. Knowing Geordie might be seconds away from bursting into the room, I grabbed my backpack and headed for the bathroom. I closed the door just as I heard the elevator open at the far end of the hall. A shrill, familiar giggle emerged.

Luc let our friends in as I dressed rapidly in one of my black leather suits. Luc and Gregor sat on the bed as I opened the door. Igor leaned against a wall and Geordie had taken one of the two chairs. “Good evening, chérie,” the kid said with a cheeky smile. “I hope you had pleasant dreams.”

“Actually,” I replied as I took the seat beside him, “I did have a funny dream.” I described the fate that had befallen the Comtesse, Council and their courtiers. Geordie sniggered uneasily, Igor looked grave and Gregor ran a hand through his mane of hair. Only Luc appeared to be unaffected by the story. He hid his emotions well and I had no idea what he was thinking.

“I for one do not regret the fate that has befallen our leaders,” Gregor said yet his expression remained disturbed. He was intelligent enough to have figured out the implications. If someone as powerful as the Comtesse could become the First’s kitchen bitch then none of us stood a chance of escaping from that very same fate.

“I am glad that we are on your side, chérie,” Geordie said solemnly. “Otherwise, we might be in their shoes by now.”

“We’ll probably all end up in their shoes anyway,” I replied glumly. The kid’s face fell but I wasn’t going to lie to him. We had to face reality. There was no use in pretending we weren’t in dire straits when we so very clearly were.

The TV had been turned on but the sound was muted. A very familiar face caught my eye and I lunged for the remote control. “Oh, no. This can’t be happening,” I moaned.

“Natalie,” Geordie said slowly after he turned to see what I was doing, “call me crazy but that person looks a lot like you.”

At first the footage was too blurry to be certain I was watching what I thought I was watching. I could only make out that a woman with brown hair was accosting someone.

All of a sudden, the picture came into focus and my face was displayed on national television in extreme close up. I’d been so intent on feeding that I hadn’t even seen the camera that must have been attached to the Russian soldier’s helmet.

I managed to get the sound on but the soldier hadn’t been fitted with a microphone. “Sleep,” I read my own lips and the soldier’s head sagged, dropping the camera to my mouth. Twin fangs descended and my head lunged towards his neck. The camera showed a view of my leather clad back and the laces that held my suit together.

It was over quickly then I sat the soldier down. The picture froze after I stepped back to take a look at my handiwork. I shivered at the cold, predatory expression on my face. Wow, I look really evil when I feed. Just how much had I changed since becoming a vampire? Uneasy at the question, I decided not to put too much thought into it. I’d worry about how evil I was if we lived through the next few days.

A reporter came on and the picture of me shrank and was moved to the side. “I repeat that this…woman is extremely dangerous. If you see her, do not approach. Call the number below and the military will take action.” A phone number flashed up on the screen in bright red letters.

I wondered how many people around the country were reaching for pens and a scrap piece of paper to jot the number down on. Feeling the others staring at me incredulously, I kept my eyes on the screen. Well, it can’t get any worse than this, I thought. I found out almost immediately that I was wrong about that as another video began to play.

This one had been shot from the helicopter that had been hovering over us as we’d battled the imps. The reporter spoke off camera. “This footage was taken by a military helicopter last night.” It was a nice, clear video of Gregor, Igor, Luc and I rushing towards the imps while Geordie fired Igor’s crossbow from a distance.

I watched in fascination as the imps piled on top of me. A couple of minutes later, the monster’s heads exploded and they were thrown away to land in a rough circle. The camera zoomed in, capturing my face as I glanced up at the light. “As you can see,” the reporter went on, “this is the same woman in both videos. Again, we urge you to call the number below if you see this person.”

Muting the TV, I reluctantly turned to see how my companions were reacting to the footage. ‘Stunned disbelief’ would come closest to describing their expressions. Luc shook his head slowly, lost for words. Igor’s mouth was open but nothing was coming out. Gregor clenched his hair with both hands, desperately trying to think of a solution to this unsolvable problem. Geordie’s lips trembled for a few seconds then he broke down, laughing hysterically.

“How can you find anything funny about this situation?” Igor growled at the teen. For once, he didn’t reach out and land a blow on the back of his apprentice’s head.

Gathering himself, Geordie managed to control his laughter long enough to explain his hilarity. “After tens of thousands of years of keeping our identity secret from humans, Natalie has managed to alert the entire world about our existence in the first six months of becoming one of us!” He howled with laughter again but none of us joined him.

It was possible that the army might have come up with an explanation for the five of us fighting the imps and surviving. However, the video of me munching on the soldier blew any chance of vampires remaining secret now. I said what the rest of our small group were all thinking. “I am totally screwed.”

We all heard faint screams in the distance at the same time. They were followed by a blood chilling roar that couldn’t possibly have been made by anything native to this planet. I’d never heard anything sound so hungry and at the same time so evil.

“I think we’re all screwed, chérie,” Geordie said solemnly. The town we’d chosen to use as our base was under attack.

Chapter Thirteen

Ever practical, Igor outlined our choices. They were limited to two: “Do we run or do we stay and fight?”

My answer was to draw both of my swords. A dragon graced one of the shiny silver blades and a lion had been etched into the other. I hoped I would do Ishida proud with the weapons he’d gifted me with. “I’m going to try to help the humans.” The thought of running away without trying to stop the coming carnage didn’t even enter my head. Ok, maybe it did for a second or two but I ignored it.

“Where you go, I go,” Luc said firmly and I flashed him a grin.

Igor grimly pulled a machete from his belt, wordlessly telling us that he wasn’t going anywhere. Gregor shook his head at his own folly then opened his tweed coat to reveal the axe he’d stashed inside. Geordie, plainly terrified, fumbled Igor’s crossbow across his narrow chest and accidentally shot a bolt into the wall. I snorted out a laugh then we were both giggling. There was a good chance that most of us were about to die and I had to let off the tension somehow. Even I couldn’t fight hundreds of imps without suffering injuries. My friends were nowhere near as resilient as me. I would try to save as many humans as possible but I was also going to watch out for my team.

I might lose them all right now, I thought as first Igor then the rest of us filed out of the room. If they died and I was the only one remaining, I resolved to hunt down the First and do my best to tear him apart with my bare hands. These were the only friends I had and they accepted me for who and what I was. Before meeting them, I’d been on my own for far too long and didn’t want to return to a state of solitude again.

Watching multiple news reports of the carnage the imps left behind after sweeping through a town didn’t prepare me for being in the centre of one of their attacks. Wails of terror, shrieks of pain and the primordial roars of the First’s offspring surrounded us as we sprinted out of the hotel lobby and onto the street. Humans fled past on foot, blindly following each other in their panic. Some drove, holding the steering wheel with panicky tightness as they barely managed not to mow their fellow townspeople down. Even as we watched, an unfortunate man detoured from the footpath onto the road. A terrified woman somewhere in her eighties mowed him down. I wasn’t sure she even noticed the tyres bumping over him.

“There is no use confronting the beasts head on,” Gregor decided. “Not when hundreds of them are attacking the town.” From the roars and multitude of heavy, thudding footsteps that were rapidly drawing closer, I thought he might be correct in his assessment of their numbers.

“Perhaps we should attack them from the flanks and from behind,” Luc suggested.

Gregor stumbled back a step when another flood of fleeing humans streaked past. “We will have more chance of success if we do.”

“He means there will be less chance of us dying straight away if we perform sneak attacks,” Geordie said to me out of the side of his mouth. I nodded in agreement. That had been my interpretation, too.

“Quickly, into the alley,” Igor urged and gestured for us to follow him. We were all wearing dark clothing, which helped us to blend in with the shadows. That reminded me of my latest dream and I turned a suspicious eye on my four silhouettes. They were still acting normally and my unease lessened slightly.

Keeping to a fast jog, Igor wound his way through the darker streets until we found an isolated bunch of imps. An even dozen of the monsters were herding a group of humans back towards the direction the imps had first come from.

Exchanging looks, we silently agreed to attack. The small noises we made as we approached were covered by the frightened sobbing or terrified screaming of the food. I reached the first imp and remorselessly stabbed him in the back. He went down with a quiet gurgle. A heavily pregnant female imp turned to see what had happened to him. My sword went into her eye and she also went down.

Finally aware that they were under attack, the remaining ten grey imps turned to engage us. Luc and I did most of the dispatching. I could have taken them all down myself but it was always good policy to share. Blocking clumsy blows, Luc and I chopped them all down until none of them were standing.

Showing a streak of ruthlessness that didn’t surprise me at all, Igor knelt beside the pregnant imp. Her grotesquely swollen stomach bulged as the unborn foetus inside her struggled to get out. Sensing danger, the baby gave a muffled roar that was cut off when Igor plunged his sword into its dead mother’s stomach.

Geordie made gagging noises when his mentor hacked the baby imp to pieces. Looking away, I also resisted the urge to heave. No matter how long I remained unalive, I hoped I’d never become used to seeing horrors like that.

A timid female voice addressed us in Russian. “Are you going to kill us now?” We turned around to see some of the human cattle hadn’t taken the opportunity to flee. A teenaged girl with tears still spilling down her face had asked the question.

“Of course not,” I replied in English. “We’re rescuing you.”

“But aren’t you the woman from the news?” a shaken man in his fifties asked, switching to English for my benefit. He cradled his left arm in his right. Blood from a long cut had soaked his sleeve. “Aren’t you the person we keep seeing on the news?”

To buy time to think of an answer that wouldn’t traumatize them all further, I bent and cleaned my swords on the loincloth of a dead imp. When I straightened, they were still waiting for an answer. None of my colleagues were about to step in and help me out. This was my punishment for allowing myself to be caught on film in the first place. “Look, unless you’re a seven foot tall grey monster, you’re safe from us,” I finally told the group.

“Liar,” spat an elderly woman. Her hair was almost pure white with only a few streaks of iron grey running through it. It frizzed out around her face, making her seem slightly crazy. “You are evil spawn from hell! You are vampires who drink the blood of innocent humans!”

Geordie gave a shrill giggle at that. “Believe me, most of my food isn’t all that innocent.” He spoke in flawless Russian. “Anyway, all creatures have to eat to survive. At least we don’t kill our food like you do.” His tone was insultingly disdainful.

“What do you mean?” the timid girl queried.

“You slaughter animals for food. Normal vampires like us hardly ever kill humans,” Geordie responded. “It’s the power-mad vampires who do all the enslaving and killing,” he said darkly. He was giving the girl a far too interested inspection. She was about my height and size and even our hair was similar. Maybe Geordie had a type and I just happened to resemble the sort of girl he was usually interested in. I had the fleeting thought that we might look like his poor long dead maker.

The girl frowned and took a long hard look at us all. “Are you saying that you are the good guys?”

Geordie grinned at the idea. “Not exactly, but the imps are our enemies and we are going to kill as many of them as we can.”

“We do not have time for this,” Igor growled. His machete was still dripping with black ooze and his head swivelled from side to side in search of more prey.

“Igor is right,” Gregor said. “More humans are being carried off to be food for the First and his army while we tarry.”

Luc addressed the shaken survivors. “I suggest you take a vehicle and leave this town before you are captured again.”

With a last lingering glance at Geordie, the teenage girl turned and jogged off into the night, followed shortly by the others. Notice how no one filmed us saving them, my subconscious pointed out. It was my crappy luck that I’d only been caught on camera doing somewhat questionable things.

During our search, we found and killed several more small groups of imps. Releasing the prisoners, we advised them to find vehicles and leave town. Most fled from us in terror when they recognized me. The footage that had been replayed over and over definitely hadn’t endeared me to the human population.

“Where is the gratitude?” Geordie grumbled when a released captive spat at him before fleeing. The impressive wad of saliva landed a few feet short and had been in no actual danger of hitting him.

Gregor clapped the kid on the back. “It’s not easy being the good guys.” He winked then stiffened abruptly when he glanced past Geordie. “I think it is time for us to beat a hasty retreat,” he said quietly.

I peered past our youngest member and saw our newest threat. Instead of running through the streets, roaring savagely, a large group of imps was attempting to sneak up on us. I counted roughly forty almost identical heads and orange pairs of eyes. Now that I was aware of them, I heard their shuffling feet and the clinking of the weapons they’d picked up during their attack. Most of their armaments were long knives or meat cleavers.

“Our retreat has just been cut off,” Luc advised us coolly. I spun to see another similarly sized group of eerily silent monsters creeping up on us. I searched in vain for a convenient alley that we could duck into to escape from the coming ambush.

Igor assessed our situation and pointed at an apartment building across the street. “Quickly, let’s get inside. The less room they have to move, the harder it will be for them to pick us off!” He bolted across the street and burst through the door without bothering to stop and open it. All humans in this area had already fled and the building was empty as we pounded up the stairs to the first floor.

“Luc and I will hold them off,” I said over my shoulder as I stopped on the first landing.

“We will head upwards and search for an exit,” Gregor replied and hurried after Igor and his apprentice.

Standing shoulder to shoulder, Luc and I waited for the small horde to attack.

Chapter Fourteen

Seconds later, the first few imps crashed their way into the foyer. Widening the doorway, they made it easier for the rest of their comrades to enter. Blinking stupidly, their orange orbs swivelled around the entrance and one of them finally spotted the stairs.

“There they are!” one snarled in our long dead father’s alien language. “Let’s tear them apart!”

“Bring it on,” I said more to myself than to the monsters.

“Leave some of them for me,” Luc said dryly. He showed no fear at the possibility of being overrun by the mob.

“I’ll try but this is what I was made for.” I wasn’t sure if I was reminding my most favourite companion or myself of that fact. Just a few months ago I’d been little more than useless when it came to battle. If my memory served me correctly, my best move had been when I’d bitch-slapped the imposter who’d been pretending to be me. If it hadn’t been for my holy marks and my ability to heal so quickly, she would have beaten me easily. The tide of our battle had only turned after my holy marks had melted her lower arms off. She’d been pretty well screwed after that.

Lumbering forward in a rush, several imps became stuck at the foot of the stairs. There was only enough room for two at a time but it took them a lot of elbowing and snarling before they figured it out. Finally, two imps prevailed and thundered upwards. Our swords flashed downwards and the bat-faced creatures fell. More climbed over them then tumbled backwards with their throats slashed or their hearts pierced. Igor’s plan to enter the building had been a good one. The narrow staircase slowed the imps down and prevented them from overwhelming us in a mad rush.

As mindless as lemmings, the First’s offspring just kept coming. They climbed over their dead in an effort to tear us limb from limb. I wasn’t sure if it was stupidity or sheer bloodlust that spurred them on.

Luc and I retreated slowly, drawing them to us and containing them at the same time. We were halfway up the second floor staircase when Igor appeared at our backs. I spared him a brief glance and spied a handgun clutched in his meaty hand. Aiming carefully through the small gap between us, the Russian vampire took down ten imps with headshots in the space of a few seconds. My ears rang at the close proximity of the gunfire.

“I thought that might make them pause,” he said when the monsters momentarily stopped their forward rush. “Get ready to run.” Reaching into his pocket, Igor brought out two hand grenades. Pulling the pins, he tossed them down the stairwell then gestured for us to follow him upwards.

Not all of the imps were killed when the grenades exploded a few seconds later but a good number of them were injured, going by the screams and groans. The rest roared in frustrated rage and resumed their pursuit.

“We have prepared a little welcome for our grey friends,” Igor said mysteriously as he raced up the stairs.

I saw what he meant when we reached the sixth and final landing. I felt myself grinning and imagined it matched Geordie’s pleased grin almost exactly. “I doubt that they will be expecting this, chérie.” The teen patted his new weapon with affection then copied Igor and Gregor and hid it behind his back. The element of surprise would be crucial in the next few seconds.

Not as swift or agile after being transformed back into the living, the First’s offspring puffed their way up the stairs. Standing in a row, Igor, Gregor and Geordie waited until the staircase below was filled wall to wall with monsters. Then they pulled the machine guns they’d found somewhere out from behind their backs and proceeded to fire.

Covering my ears did little to dampen the noise of gunfire and screaming that echoed around the stairwell. Luc grimaced slightly, his only indication that the noise also hurt his head. He remained ready to leap forward with his sword if it became necessary. With the sheer number of bullets whizzing around, I knew we wouldn’t be needed so kept my hands over my ears. In less than a minute, the imps were cut down. The last few remaining fled in defeat.

“Where did you find the artillery?” I asked when the smoke dissipated.

“I spied a dead human on the fourth floor and thought I saw a gun in his hand,” Geordie said. He was still hyped up with the excitement of winning the short battle. “His door was open and when I looked inside, I found all this.” He indicated their assortment of weapons. “I can’t be certain but it looked like the human accidentally shot himself in the leg. From the amount of blood on the carpet, he must have hit an artery.”

“Thank…gosh for clumsy gun nuts.” Ha, I finally remembered! I was almost ridiculously pleased that I hadn’t stuttered on a name I could no longer say out loud.

Gregor pointed at the door behind us. “This leads to the roof. We should stay up high for as long as we can. We’ll be able to spot the First’s children more easily from the rooftops.”

He was right, of course. It was a clear, cloudless night and we spread out to search the ground below. Geordie was the first to spot another group of humans being led back in the direction the imps had come from.

Standing at the edge of the roof, the men shot as many of the imps as they could. Most humans ran for it when we opened fire on their captors. Some remained huddled together, too shell-shocked and frightened to run. The horrors they’d seen on the news were now happening to them and most were unequipped to deal with the reality of it.

I took matters into my own hands when Igor pointed at another distant band of roaming imps. “Hey, humans!” The small group started and tilted their heads back to see us. “Unless you want to be eaten, you’d better run! More of the grey creatures are coming!” At least one of them understood me because they broke into a shambling run and disappeared from our view.

Moving from rooftop to rooftop, we routed more imp packs and aided the food in escaping. Without a gun, I merely pointed out likely targets. Luc had appropriated Geordie’s gun and handled it with far more expertise than the teen had shown. Geordie’s enthusiasm with the weapon far outweighed his actual experience with one. The teen was tasked with handing out fresh ammunition when the others ran out.

We didn’t come close to saving most of the humans in the town but we at least made sure that some escaped from the horrible fate that they’d been headed for. At an unknown signal that I suspected came from their leader, the imps broke off their attack and wheeled around almost as one. We followed them far enough to watch as they herded their captives into the back of several large cattle trucks.

One imp couldn’t wait until they returned to their lair and pulled the arm off the closest meal. Blood gushed from the gaping hole of a now empty sleeve and the human bellowed in agony. Imps began pulling him apart with their claws and cramming his flesh into their maws while he was still alive. It was sickening to watch but at least the man bled to death quickly. Luc raised his gun to mow them all down but lowered it when he realized they were too far away.

“We should retrieve our belongings then leave this place before the army arrives,” Gregor said quietly. All of us were shaken by the feeding frenzy we’d just witnessed.

“I thought they liked their meat cooked,” Geordie said to me as we headed for the fire escape.

“Some like it rare, I guess,” was my response. My stomach tried to flop over at the thought of eating raw human flesh.

Finding our hotel again, we quickly retrieved our gear then headed for our cars. Igor wove through the streets, avoiding bodies of both humans and imps as well as crashed cars that some had unsuccessfully tried to escape in.

Headlights appeared in the rear view mirror as we were exiting from the town. I peered out through the back window as a long line of army vehicles arrived. A chopper appeared, circled us briefly then swept away to search the rest of the decimated town. I was relieved when it didn’t follow us. Either it was a different chopper or they didn’t recognize Igor’s car. Luc was driving the muddy jeep now so there was no chance that our vehicle would be recognized.

Turning to face the windscreen again, I heaved a silent and non-existent breath at our narrow escape. Luc wasn’t comfortable being trapped between the imps at our front and the soldiers at our rear. Neither was Igor apparently because he turned off onto a side street and veered eastward. The sun was still a few hours away but it was pretty deserted out here. We would be very vulnerable if we couldn’t find a secure place to spend the day.

Chapter Fifteen

My concern that we would have to hide in the trunk of the car during the day was in needless. Igor led us through a few small towns and then to a much larger one. Surely the imps won’t attack a town this big, I tried to reassure myself even though I’d had that thought about the last town. Give them time, my subconscious said in response. Once enough of them had been created, no town or city would be safe. The First wouldn’t stop until every single human on the planet had been enslaved.

News of the latest attack had spread and lights were on in many of the buildings. Despite the late hour, humans gathered on footpaths in small, frightened clumps. Many held weapons in case they would be forced to defend themselves. Pity swelled inside me as I wondered how long it would be before they’d have to use the knives, clubs and guns they clutched so tightly. People carrying firearms would last a few seconds longer against the imps than those without but they would all share the same fate eventually.

Gregor was the most presentable of the five of us so he entered our hotel of choice to procure a couple of rooms. After showering and changing, we gathered to figure out a game plan. I had no idea why but our meetings always seemed to take place in the room that Luc and I shared.

Geordie decided to kick off our meeting by pointing out just how badly things were going in our favour. “By now, most of the population of Russia knows what Natalie looks like, thanks to the news reports.” Everyone looked at me with varying degrees of reproach. The deed was done and there was nothing I could do about it now. I flapped my hand for the teen to continue. “Both the Russian and American soldiers will be searching for not just our Ladybug but also for us.” It was a slight comfort to remember that I hadn’t been the only one captured in one of the videos. If I go down, at least I’ve made sure that my friends will go down with me, I thought sourly.

“We will have to keep Natalie out of sight as much as possible and avoid the American and Russian troops,” was the solution Gregor offered.

Igor slumped back against the wall with a disgruntled scowl. “How are we going to do that with soldiers crawling all over the place?”

“After the latest attack, the soldiers will be too busy to bother to search for Natalie,” Luc pointed out. I had my doubts about that but clamped down on my misgivings. Now that our existence had become known, it was only a matter of time before we became the hunted.

“What is the plan now?” Geordie asked. “If the First is blocking Natalie from sensing his lair, how are we going to find it?”

Igor had a solution this time. “We will have to be methodical. Mapping where each attack has occurred would be a good start. We also need maps of any caves that have been discovered in the surrounding area.”

As always, my brain took a few seconds to translate his thick accent into understandable English. I was tempted to ask Igor to speak in his native language but now probably wasn’t the time to nit-pick. His idea seemed logical enough but we needed equipment to pull this off. “We need a computer,” I said.

“I can hear someone typing in a room upstairs.” Geordie pointed at the ceiling and I glanced upwards as if I could magically see through the layers of concrete and carpet.

We all listened and verified what the kid had heard. Sure enough, fingers were clattering on a keyboard. The typist was also speaking to herself quietly in an Irish accent. “Oh, yes, that’s it. Give it to me, big boy.” The typing paused, she cleared her throat then the typing resumed again.

“Give it to me, big boy?” Geordie repeated incredulously. “What exactly is she typing up there?”

“It sounds like she’s writing a trashy romance novel,” I replied. I was struggling not to burst into laughter and the teen’s baffled expression wasn’t helping. “Wait,” I said to Luc as he headed for the door. “We have to make sure she has internet access.”

With a roughish smile, Luc offered me his arm. “Then you can accompany me upstairs, chérie.” Geordie pouted at his favourite nickname being stolen but made no comment after Igor speared a sharp glance at him.

We took the stairs mainly because it was quicker and I was still dressed in the highly recognizable leather suit. Without any spare clothing, the suits were all I had now.

I waited in the stairwell while Luc zeroed in on the typist. Her door was the third one down on the right. Luc knocked softly and the typing paused. “Who is it?” she called out in mangled Russian. It was after two in the morning and she was still banging away on her computer. Either she was a night owl or she was on a roll with whatever she was working on and didn’t want to quit.

“Room service,” Luc replied smoothly in much better Russian than the typist.

“I didn’t order any room service,” she muttered beneath her breath. Steps sounded as she crossed the room to peer through the peephole. “Oh, my,” she breathed softly when she took in Luc’s face.

“Would you kindly open the door?” he said. A second later, the door swung open. Jesus, he can hypnotise people through a peephole! I was instantly envious at his smoothness and almost positive that I’d never be able to duplicate it.

Crooking his finger at me, Luc gently pushed his way into the room. Sprinting quietly down the hall, I eased inside and closed the door. The woman Luc had bamboozled was small, mousy and unremarkable. Her shiny, dark brown hair was her best asset. Thick glasses slid down her short, stubby nose and threatened to fall off. In a daze, she lifted a hand to push them back. “I’ll give you anything you want. Anything,” she said with emphasis.

“Careful,” I said dryly, “she’s going to start drooling on you in a minute.”

“Why don’t you check the computer while the lady and I tend to business?” he suggested.

I’d seen Luc feed before and knew he was the consummate gentleman. He eased the dowdy female onto the bed then commanded her to sleep. His fangs descended and I turned away before he bit into the soft, white skin of her neck. I hated to admit it, but watching him feed was a bit of a turn on for me.

Taking a seat at the rickety table, I took a look at what had the human up working so late. I was right, Luc’s snack was writing a romance novel set in Russia. I read a few lines and screwed up my nose at the tacky, trite wording. Didn’t she know that phrases like ‘her ripe breasts heaved with passion’ had gone out of favour years ago? How can a breast be ripe anyway? What does an unripe breast look like? I shrugged off the inane thoughts.

After a quick check, I found that the internet was up and running. “Ok, we’re in business.” While I readied the computer for transportation, Luc lay his meal down and folded her hands together on her chest. Even deeply asleep, she wore a contented smile. Now she’ll really have something to write about, I thought sourly. Not that she would remember much about the encounter. The small wounds on her neck were already fading. By morning, our encounter with the writer would seem like a distant dream to her.

Back in our room again, I sat at our small table and fired up the internet. After a short search of the attacks, I found a handy map that someone had thoughtfully already marked. Each town that had been attacked was circled in red. A body count of dead and missing accompanied each marking. I was already disturbed enough about the possible end of the world and didn’t want to know the exact numbers involved in the First’s takeover attempt.

Gregor bent to examine the map closely. “Is anyone else seeing a pattern here?”

Igor’s stubby finger came into my view as he pointed at the first towns that had been attacked. “They struck here first then began radiating outwards in an arc.” His finger moved in a short semicircle, following the towns that had been hit.

“What is that large brown blob in the background?” Geordie queried.

“It is a mountain,” Igor told him. “The First’s cavern must lie somewhere beneath it.”

Of course it did. Here we go, another underground mountain lair. I’ve had so much luck with the other two I’ve been in. In Romania I’d been attacked by Vincent’s mob of crazed underlings. In Japan, I’d been attacked by Emperor Ishida’s soldiers. Of course, that was before they found out I was Mortis and had joined forces with me.

“Wouldn’t the soldiers have figured out the imp’s rough location by now?” I said.

Gregor nodded. “Yes but they still don’t really know what they’re dealing with. I doubt their scientists have solved the mystery of what the imps are or where they came from as yet. They also have to factor in the humans who have been captured. They are probably still working on a plan of attack that will result in the minimum of casualties.”

“With the Americans involved, they’ll find it difficult to come to an agreement,” Luc ventured.

“That is true,” Igor agreed. “The Russians will never entirely trust the Westerners.” He’d know that better than the rest of us. He’d actually lived through the history that I’d only learned about and quickly forgotten again at school.

Turning back to the computer, I began searching for maps of caves in the area. It was a frustrating, pointless search and wasted an hour of our time. If any caves existed beneath the mountain, they hadn’t been documented yet.

Gregor didn’t look particularly astounded at my inability to find anything helpful. “It is no great wonder that the cavern hasn’t yet been mapped. Any human unlucky enough to wander inside wouldn’t live long enough to advise anyone of their discovery.” His reasoning was obvious and I felt stupid for not thinking of it myself.

“I guess this means we’ll have to search the area after all,” Geordie said with an unhappy grimace.

Getting close to the mountain without being discovered by the soldiers would be only the first part of our problem. Finding the entrance without the imps swarming all over us would be the second part.

“Do you have any suggestions?” Luc directed the question at Gregor.

Deep in thought, Gregor took a seat on the bed and tuned us out. I scrolled through news clips on the internet, seeing myself chomping down on the soldier over and over again. A similar number of sites with me exploding imp heads could also be found.

Someone had started a poll asking for opinions on whether I was hot and scary or just plain scary. Ninety-five per cent of the voters had opted for hot and scary. Somehow, I wasn’t surprised that humans still had time to be trivial when the end of existence as they knew it was upon them. Everyone was supposed to have their fifteen minutes of fame. I had a feeling mine would drag out to be more like five hundred years of notoriety if humanity made it through this.

Geordie broke our silence as he reached for the remote control. “They are showing the latest attack on the news.” He switched the volume on and we all turned to watch.

A harried male reporter stood in front of an army barricade. I recognized the town we’d exited just hours ago in the background. “As you can see, the creatures no one has yet been able to identify have struck again,” the reporter said gravely. “We’ve been advised that this is the worst attack so far. Over two thousand people are believed to be either dead or missing.” The camera panned across the stony faces of the soldiers lining the barricade. A small crowd had gathered and were screaming questions at the uniformed men.

“These frightened men and women are relatives and friends of the dead and missing,” the reporter continued on with his report. “They want to know what is being done to stop the hordes of grey skinned monsters.” Looking directly down the lens of the camera, the reporter looked even grimmer. “They are not alone in their horror and despair.”

Swivelling back to the computer, I searched for the town that we’d vacated and found it quickly. The imps were widening their attacks at an alarming rate. The town was several hundred kilometres away from where we suspected the First’s lair was.

I had the intuition again that not all of the captured humans would end up as imp food. Some would be bitten by the possessed vampires and be turned into our kind. Then the First could call their shadows forth and send them on to the last stage in their evolution by dragging their inner imps out of them. I pictured an endless production line of humans disappearing into the cavern of doom and coming back out as monsters.

It was supposed to be my destiny to stop the First. Every human that died while I did nothing would be on my conscience for the rest of my potentially very lengthy unlife.

Chapter Sixteen

Guilt had me turning to face my small circle of friends. “I think now would be a good time to put Igor’s earlier plan into action and question a soldier. We need to know what they know about the imps and what plans they’ve come up with.” If they’d come up with a plan at all that was. If they had, they were taking their sweet time putting it into action.

“Yes,” Gregor mused. “It wouldn’t do for us to run into the soldiers when we make our move.” It went without saying that the soldiers would instantly turn their guns on us. How could they not after they’d seen what I was capable of?

A look of dread settled on Geordie’s face and I couldn’t blame him. We were up against a being that could convert us into seven foot tall grey monsters with a single command.

“Natalie, you should be the one to hunt down a soldier and bring him back here,” Igor suggested.

We knew some troops were in town because we’d driven past their trucks on our way in. There were probably soldiers in most towns surrounding the mountain that we strongly suspected hid the First and his growing army. It made sense for me to do the hunting, since most of the soldiers were male. “Make sure you disable his camera this time.” At Igor’s sardonically lifted eyebrow, I just nodded. I wasn’t able to blush in embarrassment anymore but the emotion still washed through me.

“I will go with you,” Luc said in a tone that told me he wouldn’t be argued with. Not that I would have argued. My plans had a disturbing tendency of going wrong when I was on my own.

“Be safe, chérie,” Geordie said and blew me a kiss as I moved towards the door. He gave Luc a scowl.

“We’ll be back soon,” I promised.

Someone locked the door behind us as we headed for the stairs. Dressed in the distinctive black leather suit, I needed to stay out of sight as much as possible. Taking the elevator would have been asking for trouble. Luc detoured back upstairs to return the computer to the writer. He returned quickly and we headed down to the ground floor.

It was now well after three am and frightened people still remained gathered on the streets. Knowing the imps struck only at night, I couldn’t blame them for their vigilance. Luc steered me outside and into a clean but narrow alley. “Wait here for a moment.” With an enigmatic smile, he took to the footpath. A few minutes later, he returned carrying a long black coat. “For you, Lady Natalie.” He offered me the coat with a bow.

“Thanks, Lord Lucentio.” The coat had been made for someone several inches taller than me. The hem almost dragged on the ground but it covered my suit and kept me warm. Whoever he’d coerced into giving it up would probably wake up wondering what the hell had happened to it.

We strolled down the alley, away from the main streets. If we were going to kidnap a soldier, we had to perform the task where we wouldn’t be seen. There was already enough footage of me on TV and the internet without adding to it.

After an hour or so of traversing through the darker alleys, we spied a soldier speaking into a radio. He spoke in Russian but both Luc and I understood him. He was reporting in to his boss, telling him that he both saw and heard nothing strange. Exchanging a quick glance, Luc and I moved in on the hapless man. He was about to see and hear something very strange indeed.

We flanked him silently as he strolled towards the far end of the alleyway. When we were close enough for him to feel our breath on his neck, if we’d had any, Luc pounced. He broke the strap of the soldier’s helmet then stripped the helmet off. It went sailing through the air to land on the roof of the building beside us, taking the camera mounted on the side with it.

“Huh?” Dazed at the suddenness of the attack, the soldier swung around to face me when I tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hi there!” I said brightly and stared into his eyes. He was tall, at least six foot two and I had to tilt my head back to ensnare him.

His brown eyes went wide but they didn’t cloud over with hypnotism. “Mother of God, you’re the vampire!” he bleated then raised his machine gun and fired a burst at me.

If my reflexes had been lacking, my suit would have been riddled with bullets. Since they weren’t lacking, I sidestepped and the projectiles spattered the brick wall instead of me. Unseen humans on nearby streets screamed and bolted at the noise. Within minutes, the area would be crawling with soldiers. I threw a frantic look at Luc, unable to understand what had gone wrong. This was the first time a man hadn’t fallen for my evil charms since I’d been turned into the undead. “He isn’t going under,” I said in confusion.

Raising his eyes heavenward, Luc leaped forward before the soldier could correct his aim and make another attempt to cut me in half with his gun. Taking the soldier’s chin in his hand, he redirected the man’s gaze. The instant the trooper’s eyes met Luc’s he went still. It took longer than usual but his expression changed to the dreamy-eyed worshipfulness I was used to being on the receiving end of.

“Huh, I guess he must be gay,” I cleverly deduced.

Luc, even more uncomfortable with the idea than me, nodded. “So it would seem.”

Even under Luc’s spell, the Russian was indignant. He understood English well enough to know what I’d just said. “I am not gay,” he protested almost grumpily in his native language. “I like vaginas, not penises.”

Now that I wasn’t sidestepping a hail of bullets, I examined him more closely. He was young, barely in his twenties. A flush of either anger or embarrassment made his pale cheeks rosy. “Yeah, you keep telling yourself that,” I said mostly to myself.

“Take your clothes off but leave your underwear and shoes on,” Luc ordered. I lifted an eyebrow at the order. “He might be bugged,” Luc said in a whisper low enough that the human couldn’t hear him. I nodded wisely, kicking myself for not thinking of the possibility. The army might very well now be taking precautions with their employees after I’d munched on one of them.

A blush spread right up to the soldier’s hairline this time but he did as he was told. He stripped down to his shorts, revealing a skinny body that was almost as pale as mine. He folded his uniform neatly and placed his weapon on top of the pile. As he did, police sirens burst into life, zeroing in on our location.

Luc gestured for the soldier to follow him and I brought up the rear. When we were several blocks away, Luc ordered our captive to leave his clothes and weapon in the dark shadows of an alley.

We retraced our steps, making sure to remain unseen as we entered our hotel from a side door. Our captive walked between us. He fought against the hypnotism, shaking his head and muttering beneath his breath. Privately, I was beginning to think we’d chosen a poor subject to question. The soldier wasn’t sure of his own sexuality. Apparently, this prevented him from falling completely under Luc’s spell. One thing was certain, I obviously did nothing for the guy. My ego wasn’t particularly bruised since I was well used to underwhelming the opposite sex in my previous life.

Back on our floor, I checked that the hallway was clear before gesturing for Luc to bring our captive out of the stairwell. Igor opened the door before I could even lift my hand to knock. His face registered no surprise at the sight of the mostly naked soldier as he was propelled inside. Sweat stood out on our prisoner’s pale forehead. His face twisted with the effort of fighting against the dark spell that controlled his mind.

Luc sat the soldier on one of the chairs and our captive looked at each of us one by one as we came to stand in front of him. The hypnotism was fast wearing off and fear was replacing it. His gaze moved from me, to Luc, Igor, Gregor and finally came to rest on Geordie. One glance into Geordie’s still slightly blue eyes and the soldier was lost again. The usual dreamy smile blossomed as his will to resist disintegrated. This time he was under deep and wouldn’t try to fight his way free.

“Yeah, he’s not gay,” I said sarcastically. “You can tell how much he likes vaginas.”

Gregor clapped Geordie on the back, making him stagger forward a step. “Congratulations, my young friend, it looks like you will be doing the questioning tonight. After one bite he’ll tell us everything we want to know.”

Geordie immediately screwed his nose up. “I do not feed from men. I truly do like vaginas.”

Not hiding my enjoyment at the teen’s discomfort, I handed him some advice. “Suck it up, princess and bite the guy.”

Seeing us all watching him with varying degrees of amusement, Geordie’s lower lip pooched out rebelliously. “I can’t feed from him with all of you staring at me!”

Containing his smile, Gregor turned his back and motioned for the rest of us to copy him. “Let’s give them some privacy.”

Geordie glowered at us until we complied. I managed to hide my grin until my back was to the pair. “This is so wrong,” the teen muttered. Luc elbowed me in the side and sent a forbidding look at me before I could voice the laughter that bubbled up. I’d had to bamboozle a lesbian in an airport once but I hadn’t had to bite her. My amusement faded a little when I put myself in Geordie’s shoes. It’s not like he has to have sex with the guy. He just has to take some blood from him. But to vampires, feeding was like sex in a way. It was usually a very intimate moment.

A moan of either pain or pleasure came from behind us and my head was turning before I could command it not to. A bare glimpse was enough to make me turn away again. Geordie had positioned himself behind the soldier. He had a handful of short, light brown hair in one hand, using it to angle the food’s neck for easy access. His teeth were buried in the smooth, pale flesh as he drank. Blood ran in a tiny stream down the soldier’s neck to his chest and dripped off his nipple.

The moan had definitely been pleasure. My glance had been enough to tell me the soldier was enjoying the experience. His eyelids fluttered and his expression was pure ecstasy. Also, a large lump had risen against his undies. Mortified and feeling like a pervert, I tried to pretend I hadn’t just witnessed the spectacle.

“Ok,” Geordie said a short while later. “I am done.”

He looked and sounded so dejected that my shrivelled heart went out to him. Moving to his side, I have him a hug that he instantly took advantage of by rubbing against me and grabbing my butt with both hands. “Are you sure you like vaginas?” I asked him doubtfully. The soldier wasn’t the only one who was excited.

“I was thinking of you as I drank from him, chérie,” Geordie told me then batted his eyelashes like a girl.

“I’ll give you everything I have if you do that to me again,” the soldier slurred. His head was still cocked at the same uncomfortable angle but he was smiling happily. From the distinctly unhappy frown Geordie gave him, I was pretty sure the chances of that happening were zilch.

Igor moved the second chair until it was facing the soldier. Reluctantly, Geordie took the seat while the rest of us gathered behind him. “Ask him what the army knows about the grey monsters,” Igor instructed. It was the first of many questions but the answers we received were minimal at best.

The tall, thin, blonde American soldier we’d seen on the news was named Colonel Sanderson. He was in charge of the operation to hunt down the imps. The army was calling them ‘the unknown entities’. They had narrowed down where they believed the unknown entities had originated from but hadn’t found the entrance to the underground lair as yet. They were also still trying to figure out how to rescue the human captives with as few casualties as possible. As Igor had predicted, the two armies were having difficulty agreeing on anything.

“It is as we had feared,” Gregor said when the soldier stopped talking. “The soldiers are no closer to a solution than we are.”

“We should scout out the mountain, locate the cave and move in now,” Igor suggested. “Before the soldiers can become more of a nuisance.”

“I wish there was some way we could send a spy into the cavern,” I said. “If we could capture one of the possessed vampires…,” I trailed off when my imagination ran out.

“We have captured a vampire,” the soldier said suddenly. “Or something we think might be a vampire. Some of the Americans thought he was a zombie at first.” His upper lip lifted in a sneer at their supposition.

Since I’d woken up dazed and unbreathing yet somehow still alive a couple of times, I’d also come to the erroneous conclusion that I was a zombie. I wasn’t about to criticize the Americans for making the same mistake that I had.

“Why did they think he was a zombie?” Geordie asked.

“Because he does not breathe yet is still alive and speaks in a language no one can understand.” That told me the vamp had to be possessed. His shadow had ascended and was speaking through his mouth with our father’s alien language. “Of course, we knew it could only be a vampire after seeing the video of her,” he nodded in my direction without taking his eyes off Geordie. Ignoring my young looking companion’s snigger, I had no comeback for that one so remained silent.

Gregor was wearing a thoughtful look and I knew he was concocting some kind of plan. “Where is this vampire being kept?” he asked the bedazzled human.

“At a building the Americans have commandeered.” The town the young soldier named was several hours away, closer to the mountain. It had already been attacked by imps and the survivors had been evacuated in the event that the grey monsters might return. He couldn’t tell us exactly which building our kin was being kept in. It would require stealth, cunning and brains to locate the vamp and break him free. That means you’re out of the running, my subconscious said nastily and I winced inwardly at the barb.

We gathered close together and spoke quietly so our captive wouldn’t be able to overhear us. “It will be very dangerous to attempt to break the possessed one free,” Igor cautioned.

“Why don’t we just capture one of the smaller groups that are heading this way and follow them to the cave instead?” Geordie asked.

“Because they all drop off my radar as soon as they get within a few hundred kilometres of the First’s lair,” I finally admitted. I’d noticed this happening but hadn’t mentioned it before. “If we lose sight of them we’ll never find the cavern.”

“Then we have no choice but to use the possessed prisoner,” Gregor said.

Luc gave him a shrewd stare. “What plan have you concocted, old friend?”

Giving Luc a crafty smile, Gregor replied. “Our captive kin has heard the call of his master and he has no choice but to go to him. I suggest we relieve the American soldiers of their specimen.”

Geordie looked confused but I began to grin. “He’ll lead us straight to the cavern of doom,” I guessed. The vamp would be our version of a homing pigeon. We’d have to restrain him somehow so he didn’t try to kill us but the plan could definitely work.

“Correct.” Gregor gave me a single nod.

“We can then infiltrate the cavern and carve our way to the First.” Igor’s usually stoic face was almost happy to be finally taking action.

“As soon as he sees us, he will turn us into grey skinned, drooling, flesh eating monsters,” Geordie said dejectedly. Our brief mood of euphoria instantly evaporated.

“Geordie’s right,” I said into the silence. “It isn’t safe for any of you to enter the cavern.”

Luc turned to me and I saw dread deep in his black eyes. “Natalie, you can’t fight the First and his offspring alone.”

“If I’m lucky, I won’t be alone,” I said with a smile. Self-doubt kept it from being as reassuring as I’d intended.

Chapter Seventeen

“Kokoro, the Japanese prophetess, told me I’d have an army to help me when I battle the First,” I explained when I received four identically sceptical looks.

“You believe she was talking about an actual army of human soldiers?” Gregor asked, frowning and flicking his hair back from his face.

I shrugged then nodded. “If I can speak to this Colonel Sanderson, maybe I can convince him that we need each other.” My convincing skills usually turned out to be fairly inadequate but I was hoping this time would be different. I’d be dealing with humans instead of vampires and my dark mojo should give me an edge.

“What if they chop your head off like the Japanese did when you tried to talk them into becoming your allies?” Geordie said. His lower lip was trembling slightly. He might not love me the same way Luc did but he was fond of me in his own way. I’d be equally distressed if I thought Geordie might be in danger of dismemberment.

“Then I’ll reattach it and try again.” I could already imagine the screams of panic that would follow that little demonstration.

“I will not let you face the soldiers alone,” Luc said. “I will be coming with you.”

This time, it was my turn not to be argued with. “No.” The word was short, sharp and final. “You’d all be doomed as soon as you step foot inside the cavern. Since I have four shadows, I’m not going to be instantly converted into an imp. I think my shadows will have to duke it out for dominance before that can happen. This should buy me some time to try to kill the First,” I explained in a slightly less harsh tone.

“The rest of us wouldn’t last a second,” Geordie said glumly. Now his chin was quivering. If he’d been human, tears would have been brimming in his eyes. “Will we ever see you again, chérie?” he whispered.

“Of course you will,” I reassured him. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.” Not that there would be anything easy about my immediate future. There was great potential for disaster ahead. I was going to have to break into an army controlled building, convince Colonel Sanderson to join forces with me then fight the First and his hordes. Say your prayers because you are going to die. There went my subconscious again, always ready with a word or two of encouragement.

Gregor rubbed his hands together briskly. “When were you thinking of leaving?”

If dawn hadn’t been so close, I would have left immediately. “Tomorrow night, as soon as I rise. I want to get this done before any more humans end up as party treats.”

Checking his watch, Gregor pointed to the bedazzled soldier who was still staring at Geordie as if he was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. “We should get this young man back to where he belongs.”

Geordie reluctantly beckoned to the trooper and cast a sad look at me before Igor herded him and our captive into the hallway.

“We’ll stop in and say our goodbyes before you leave,” Gregor said then closed the door.

Luc’s expression was serene but only lasted until the elevator containing our friends descended two floors. Then he turned to me with a forbidding, dark look in his black eyes. He stalked over to me and I almost backed up a step. He reached out and cupped my cheek with his hand. Despite the anger thrumming through him, he was gentle. “This could be our last night together.” With those words, I realized it wasn’t anger filling Luc but fear and grief at the thought of losing me.

Swallowing down the lump that wanted to form, I moved in until our chests were nearly touching. “Then we’d better make the most of it.”

I had my suit unlaced and half off when Luc’s hands enveloped my breasts from behind. I gave a strangled moan when he squeezed almost hard enough to hurt. I’d never engaged in rough bedroom antics before and briefly gave a thought to what I’d been missing out on all these years. Then the rest of my suit was gone and I was suddenly lying on my back on the carpet.

“What is it about you that makes me lose my control?” Luc asked as he poised himself above me.

“I dunno. My winning personality?” I teased.

His mouth descended on mine and the capacity for thought was erased. Luc stifled my moans as best as he could while plunging his body into mine. I accidentally tore a strip of carpet up when I clawed at the ground. Then I was tipping over the edge and Luc was groaning in pain as one of my legs entwined around his and something snapped.

Rolling onto his back beside me, Luc waited for his bones to pop back into place before speaking. “Well, that will certainly be memorable.”

Tossing aside the strip of carpet, I grinned. “Yeah, for me too.” It was too cold even with the heat turned up to lie on the floor wearing only our skin. We moved to the bedroom to make some more memories before the sun came up.

Luc didn’t want to give into the dark magic that made us die when the sun rose but eventually closed his eyes and succumbed to it. I lay awake beside him, tucked beneath a mound of blankets, wondering if this would be the last time we would ever be together.

If I was going to die when I finally confronted the First, I hoped Luc would be able to find someone else to love. He’d had pretty crappy luck when it came to women over the past seven hundred years. If I didn’t make it then it was my wish that he would meet a normal vampire and settle down with her. If there was such a thing as a normal vampire.

For a few seconds, I remained strong at the thought of losing Luc forever then I broke into dry sobs. I wasn’t really upset at the thought of dying. I’d died six months ago when Silvius had bitten me and turned me into Mortis. It was the thought of Luc spending the next few hundred or even thousand years alone and lonely that made me sad.

Eventually, I pulled myself together and closed my eyes. I was going to need my rest if I was going to meet with the American in charge of fighting the imp invasion.

Opening my eyes, I found myself in a clearing in a jungle. Moonlight shone directly on me, bright enough to ruin my night vision. Blinking white spots away, I turned in a full circle, wondering where the hell I was. I knew I was dreaming but this wasn’t the cavern of doom I normally dreamed myself into.

Something moved stealthily through the trees behind me and I whirled around. My four shadows moved with me but they huddled together, glancing around uneasily. Wherever we were, they didn’t like it either.

Another sound came from the underbrush and I tensed for battle. A creature bounded out of the trees and I groped for the swords that weren’t there before I realized it was just a deer. I was pretty sure I’d seen something like it on a documentary but I couldn’t name the animal. It had long horns that would be excellent for goring enemies with. Attack was the last thing on the animal’s mind, it was far more frightened than I was. Its nostrils flared as it scented the air. Wide brown eyes looked straight at me without seeing me.

Finally deciding the clearing was safe, the deer began to step daintily across the grass. Reaching the centre of the rough circle, it started then went absolutely still. Seconds later, I sensed the same thing that it did; a dark presence was reaching up from beneath the ground. My shadows quailed, clasping each other instead of squabbling as they had in my last dream.

Legs trembling, the deer broke free from its terror and bolted for the trees. After a few bounds, it stumbled then went down. I moved closer when it didn’t get back up and saw that its chest was no longer moving. The deer had died from sheer fright.

Now my legs were trembling but I forced myself to walk towards the centre of the clearing. One of my shadows became brave enough to shake its head at me. “Danger,” I thought it said in my head but that had to be my imagination.

Ignoring the warning, I came to a stop where the deer had stood before it had descended into panic. Again, the presence rose and I was suddenly surrounded by a feeling of immense hunger. When the presence sensed that I wasn’t good to eat, its hunger turned to frustrated rage before it subsided back into dormancy.

Chapter Eighteen

I didn’t tell Luc about my strange new dream when he rose. I’d woken early and had already showered and dressed before the sun was completely down.

Luc woke with the immediate alertness that was usual for him. He saw me decked out in black leather and my backpack stashed near the door and a brief flare of loss crossed his face. By the time he had showered and dressed, the others had arrived to say their farewells.

It would have been easy for me to slip away without a word but it would also have been cowardly. In their place, I’d want to say goodbye if I thought I was never going to see one of them again.

Our friends were subdued as Luc let them into our room. Geordie gave me a stricken look then turned his back and folded his arms over his narrow chest, pretending to watch the TV. As usual, a report of the imp attacks was playing.

Gregor kicked things off by opening his arms wide. I stepped into his embrace and was glad I was so hard to kill when his grip became crushing. Easing up on the pressure, he gave me a kiss on the forehead then moved back so he was holding me at arm’s length. “The only advice I have for you is to try to kill the First quickly. We have no idea what powers he might possess and it would be folly to give him the chance to use them against you.”

Igor was next. His hug was much briefer and he even managed to muster up a pretence of a smile. He had no advice to give me. “Good luck,” the grizzled Russian said gruffly then stepped back.

Geordie manfully tried not to subside into dry sobs. Then he flung himself at me, wrapping skinny arms around my back and clutching me tightly. For once, he didn’t try to grope my butt or grind his pelvis into me. “Remember that we all love you, chérie,” he whispered in my ear. “Especially me.” I kissed his grimy cheek and he stepped away.

Luc was waiting beside the door, holding my backpack. To delay the moment I had to say goodbye, I closed my eyes and sent out my senses on the off chance that some imps had snuck up close enough for me to sense them. I frowned when I picked up on something close by. Sending out the sweep, I found pockets of our kin scattered near and far. They disappeared from my radar again suddenly. It seemed the First had momentarily dropped his shield. Why, I had no way of knowing.

“A group of vampires is somewhere in town,” I advised my friends.

Immediately concerned, Luc dropped my backpack and strode to my side. “How many are there?”

“I’m not sure but there are more of them than there are of us.”

“Are they possessed?” Gregor asked.

My answer was a shrug. To my senses, they were either vampires or imps and that was all I could tell. Luc, Gregor and Igor shared some kind of silent communication that we women folk, and apparently Geordie, weren’t privy to.

“I think you should delay your departure until we can discover if they are friends or foes,” the most urbane of us said. Igor nodded to back Gregor up. I wasn’t sure if Luc or Geordie was more relieved that I wouldn’t be leaving them quite as soon as I’d planned. I was more annoyed than grateful to be postponing my trip. It had taken a lot of effort to work up my courage and now it was already starting to leak away.

“Can you pinpoint where they are exactly?” Igor asked.

I’d sensed them only briefly and couldn’t find them when I checked again. The First was blocking me again. I couldn’t even sense the other four vampires in the room with me. “I think they’re somewhere to the north and only a few blocks away.”

As was always the case lately, we were all armed and didn’t need to waste time retrieving our weapons. Igor, Gregor and Luc had little chance of hiding their guns so we took the stairs to the ground floor and exited out through the back of the building. My backpack covered all but the hilts of the swords poking up over my shoulders. The long black coat did an excellent job of hiding my suit. I was as unnoticeable as I could be without being invisible.

We jogged in near silence until we were one street away from where I thought I’d sensed the vamps. Motioning the others to stay out of sight, I edged to the mouth of the street and peeked around the corner. My attention was drawn to a large, condemned building directly across the road.

It would make an excellent hideout with signs on the front door warning people of the danger. Four stories high, the brick edifice was missing its roof and most of its windows. No vampire with even half a brain would try to hide from the sun in any of the rooms that were above ground. My bet was that they were below the street in the basement.

Turning, I almost bumped into Igor. He ignored the sword that appeared in my hand like magic. Sometimes my reflexes were so fast even I didn’t know how I was going to react when I was startled. “Where are they?” he mouthed almost silently.

“I think they’re in the basement,” I mouthed back and pointed at the base of the brick building. Very faintly, an unintelligible voice drifted up from beneath the ground, confirming my suspicions.

Retreating for a couple of blocks, we huddled in a circle to decide what we were going to do. “So, are we going to break in and slaughter them all?” Geordie asked almost sullenly. He was still upset about the last two groups of possessed that we’d killed.

Gregor shook his head. “We have no way of knowing how many of their shadows have reached ascendency. Since they aren’t on their way to the First’s lair, it is possible that they might all be free of his influence. Perhaps they will turn out to be our allies.”

“Someone has to sneak inside and see what they’re up to,” Igor suggested. They all turned to me expectantly.

“Fine. I’ll go in, shall I?” It’s always me, I grumbled to myself. Just because I couldn’t die, I was the one who had to go in. Admittedly, I was more annoyed about being delayed rather than having to infiltrate the decrepit building. How many humans were being roasted on a spit while we were investigating a suspicious group of vamps?

Luc almost handed me his phone then realized they could just move closer to the building. All I’d have to do was raise my voice and they’d be able to hear me without any trouble. “Alert us if you need our help,” he said.

There was no point in drawing this out so I shouldered my backpack, turned and trotted back towards the condemned building.

I decided going in through the front door would be a bad idea so kept to the shadows and rounded the building to the back. Boards had been nailed across the back door as well. Going in that way would be far too noisy. Peering upwards, I noticed that most of the windows were missing. Picking one on the first floor, I jumped and landed lightly on the sill.

A neighbouring building blocked the weak moonlight and prevented it from penetrating the darkness. I waited for my night vision to kick in before entering. The room was devoid of furnishings so I didn’t need to worry about bumping into anything. Avoiding broken glass, I crossed the mouldy carpet of what had once been a small bedroom.

Taking a quick tour, I found a much larger bedroom, a bathroom and combination living-dining-kitchen area. The apartment was bigger than my old home but size was the only thing it had going for it. The walls were mildewed, the carpet squished beneath my feet and the air was stale and musty.

I smelled something else wafting through the open door that led to a hallway. The stench of fresh and not so fresh corpses permeated the area. Unless a wild animal had taken up residence in the building, this was definitely a vampire lair. Personally, I didn’t know how they could live with the smell. It was a wonder they hadn’t been discovered by humans by now.

Following my nose, I located the cache of bodies several doors down. Ten dead, naked humans had been piled haphazardly in an empty living room. None wore looks of horror. They seemed to be at peace, which told me they had been hypnotized before they’d been murdered.

Their pale bodies were speckled with dried blood. I didn’t have to be a coroner to figure out the cause of their deaths. Gaping wounds had been carved into their chests. Crouching beside the freshest corpse, I studied her neck and found no signs of recently healed fang marks. Frowning, I checked her arms and legs and came up blank. For reasons I couldn’t possibly comprehend, the vamps hadn’t drained the dead. They’d just cut them open and stolen their hearts.

What sort of weirdos are they? The only way I would find an answer to that was to sneak into the basement and spy on them.

At the far end of the hallway, I located a set of stairs leading down. The cement steps were encrusted with dirt and I winced at every scuff noise my feet made. At the bottom, a hallway branched out in two directions. To the right was a foyer that had been emptied of furniture long ago. To the left was a heavy, rusty metal door. The door had the word ‘Basement’ printed on it in Russian.

Through the closed door, I heard muffled voices. Cocking my head to the side, I tried to make out what they were saying. It almost sounds like someone is chanting down there, I thought uneasily. In my vast horror movie watching experience, chanting was never a good sign. Turning the aged doorknob, I pushed the door open and descended into the dimly lit basement.

Candlelight flickered on the brick walls below. It danced as if a breeze had found its way beneath the ground. Creeping down slowly, I reached a corner and dropped down to one knee. I hadn’t been wrong, someone was chanting softly in what I believed were random Latin words. My weird brain translated the words automatically but they made no sense. Then the chanting ceased.

“Oh, Unholy Matron,” a male vampire said in French. “Your unworthy worshipers offer you this sacrifice. Take this human unto yourself and know that we obey your every command.”

Peeking around the corner, I took in the dozen black robed vampires kneeling around a naked woman. Like the other victims that had preceded her, she’d been hypnotized into submission. She lay on the cold, dirty cement floor without protest. Short, fat white candles sat in a circle around her. From the amount of melted wax and layers of old blood on the floor, this was where all of the sacrifices had been performed.

Studying the twelve shadows that were thrown against the walls or floor, the only movement I detected was caused by the flickering light. If any of these vampires had been possessed, they would have been compelled to seek out the First. So what the hell were they doing here and who were they praying to?

Kneeling close to the sacrifice, a couple of the vamps were dangerously close to catching on fire. Personally, I didn’t think it would be any great loss if they went up in flames even if none of them were yet possessed. Sacrificing humans was a definite no no in my book.

An effigy had been placed near the sacrifice’s head. It was three foot high, rough wooden carving of a female vampire. I finally realized it was supposed to be me when I saw the crosses chiselled on her palms. Most of my kin hated and feared me, to my knowledge this was the first bunch to actively worship me.

Chanting a string of nonsense Latin words that must have sounded impressive to the others, the lead worshiper drew a weapon from within his robes. Raising the bloodstained dagger over his head, he moved to plunge it into the woman’s chest. With first-hand knowledge of just how painful that tended to be, I was on the move before I’d even ordered my legs into action.

Dropping my backpack, I crossed the room fast enough to blow out several of the candles. I caught the vamp’s wrist before his weapon could tear into the victim’s flesh. Despite my speed, I’d almost been too late. The dagger point made a small dimple in the human’s breast. A tiny bead of blood welled then trickled down her side. Dazed, vacant eyes blinked slowly and seemed not to see us at all.

My worshipper’s hood fell back to reveal his shocked, pasty face. His cheeks were sunken, black bags crouched beneath his eyes and his fangs were too prominent. It appeared that he’d skipped more than a few meals lately. “Who are you?” he asked in French.

“I’m Nat.” As soon as I said it, I winced, knowing what the response would be.

“Did she say gnat? Isn’t that an insect?” one of the others muttered to the vamp next to her.

I put a finger beneath my left eye as a tiny muscle tried to twitch. Really, you would think I should have learned my lesson by now. “My name is Nat-a-lie,” I enunciated the name for them. “But you can call me ‘Unholy Matron’ if you prefer.”

“How dare you mock our faith!” the lead vampire snarled and futilely tried to yank his arm free.

“How dare I?” I said incredulously. “How dare I!” I was unaccountably enraged that these strangers were killing defenceless humans in my name. Standing, I dragged the worshipper to his feet then held my free hand up in front of his face. “I dare because I am Mortis, the creature you pathetic losers are pretending to worship.” I pointed to the wooden effigy and the robed vamp flinched at the cross on her palm that matched the one on mine. “Now, why don’t you try to explain to me why the hell you’re murdering humans in my name?” I wasn’t quite shouting but my voice rang out in the small room.

“You can’t be Mortis,” a young male robed one said scornfully. When he pushed his hood back impatiently, I saw he was young in both human and vampire years. Twenty at the most, his eyes were still mostly green. His pupils were far larger than normal but I’d bet that he was even younger than I was as a vampire. He’d probably only recently gained control over both of the hungers that raged through us when we were new.

“Really?” I replied sarcastically and made a point of examining the cross on my palm. Releasing the lead worshipper, I turned both of my palms to the small crowd. “So how do you explain these then?”

Recomposing himself, the lead vamp straightened his robe and pulled the hood forward again to hide his emaciated face. “They are obviously fake, heretic.”

I turned to face him and he took the opportunity to plunge his dagger into my heart. Staring down at the blade, fresh anger pulsed through me. “These leather outfits don’t grow on trees, you know,” I said and pulled the dagger free. “Look at that!” I pointed at the tear in both the coat and the black suit beneath it. My flesh had already knitted back together. “Who is going to sew this back up?” It wouldn’t be me, that was for sure.

Backing away, the cadaverous robed one tripped over the human. Sprawling, he scrambled backwards into the arms of his followers. “You cannot be the Unholy Matron,” he said, shaking his head frantically in denial. While he wasn’t wearing a black suit, he looked very familiar. I had my suspicions about who he might be and where he had come from.

Leaning against the carving, I cocked an eyebrow as the cringing vamp came to a stop beside his followers. “Why not?”

“Because the true Mortis was beheaded and then cut into pieces.”

“Here’s a newsflash, I managed to put myself back together and claw my way out of the cemetery.”

“Impossible,” he murmured.

“I can give you a demonstration of my powers if you like,” I said coldly. “Choose one of your followers to step forward and I’ll pop their head for them just like I did to the imposter me in the Comtesse’s white marble mansion.”

Faced with the truth that I really was Mortis, he still had difficulty believing it but wasn’t willing to sacrifice one of his flock. “But you are so…uncouth,” he said in bewilderment.

“She’s Australian!” a familiar voice shouted from outside. Thanks, Geordie, I thought sarcastically. I could always rely on my friends to back me up.

“Ah. That explains it,” one of the robed ones muttered.

“Aventius,” the young male vamp said to his leader as he surged to his feet. “Are you going to let this creature defile our sacrificial chamber?”

Aventius’ head swung from me to the sacrifice then back to his followers, undecided about their best course of action.

“Quickly, we must kill her before her friends arrive,” one of the others said.

“Hello?” I pointed at the tear in my suit. “He already stabbed me through the heart, remember? Don’t you know that I can’t be killed with normal weapons?”

Ignoring my sarcasm, the mob stood, drew weapons from within their robes and rushed at me. Obviously they weren’t aware of the legend that was me and just how difficult it was to put me down.

Chapter Nineteen

With my enhanced speed, I shifted away from the human so she wouldn’t be trampled in the stampede. Both of my swords appeared in my hands but I was reluctant to chop my kin apart. We were a rapidly dwindling breed since most of us had now been converted into imps and many more were being drawn to the same fate.

Parrying and blocking, I easily held the mob off without sustaining any further tears in my coat or suit. Young and cocky, the green eyed worshipper lunged forward and tried to stab me in the face with a rusty sword that had probably belonged to his great-great-great-grandfather.

Thinking fast, which was unlike me, I parried his blow then grabbed him by the front of his robe. I spun him around so his back was to me and pinned his sword arm tightly against his chest. Now his friends would have to go through him to get to me. As I’d suspected, they halted their attack.

Aventius motioned for his followers to lower their weapons. “What do you want from us, fiend?”

I’d been called many unflattering things but that was a new one. “I want every new vampire I meet to stop trying to kill me.” A shrill giggle from outside followed my words. Geordie had moved closer to the condemned brick building and that meant all of my friends were near. “You might as well come in, guys,” I called out. “None of these people are possessed.” Not yet anyway but it was only a matter of time.

Sharing disturbed glances, the robed ones huddled together as my companions kicked in the front door and entered the building. In seconds, Luc reached my side. He raised a cool eyebrow at my vampire shield. “Have you found yourself a pet, Natalie?”

“Let me go,” the sullen young man said and I pushed him away. Now that they were faced with five of their kin instead of just little old me, their bravado had fled.

“Lord Lucentio?” Aventius said and pushed his hood back.

“Councillor Aventius,” my one true love replied with a rather formal nod. That confirmed my suspicions about where I’d seen the robed one before. He had been one of the figures cowering behind the Comtesse’s throne when she had ordered Luc to behead me. “You have been gone from the Court for several months and we feared you had perished.” I assumed the ‘we’ Luc was referring to was the Comtesse and the other seven Councillors. I doubted any of the courtiers particularly gave a crap what happened to their leaders.

Clasping his hands together, the hollow cheeked vamp cut a quick glance at me. “When I first heard the rumour that Mortis had at last risen, I formed this small group of believers. I knew Mortis would not truly die when the Comtesse ordered her to be dismembered. As the Unholy Matron’s true followers, we were hoping to be spared from the decimation of our species that was prophesized over two thousand years ago.”

I’d changed physically since the night I’d lost my head and then the rest of my body parts. It was unsurprising that the Councillor hadn’t recognized me.

Gregor’s expression was slightly puzzled. “I do not remember it being prophesized that Mortis’ followers would turn to sacrificing humans.”

“That was Joshua’s idea,” a helpful female worshipper said. All of the vamps had pushed their hoods back now. Just like Aventius, they looked like they could use a good feed. Extremely pale, her hair was strawberry blonde and her face was delicately beautiful.

Joshua, the sullen young man with the green eyes, threw her an angry glance at being tattling on. Aventius patted him on the shoulder soothingly. “We all thought Mortis would approve of our actions,” the Councillor said in a tired voice. “It is expected that she will one day rule the human race. Why would she care if we sacrifice a few in her name?”

“I don’t approve of mindless slaughter,” I said with more than a hint of ire. “I’m prophesized to massacre vampires, not humans.” All flinched at the implied threat in my tone. What is it with them all thinking I’m going to be a world ruler? That is never going to happen.

Geordie sidled up to me and put a skinny arm around my waist. “They were afraid, chérie.” For someone so young looking, he could be surprisingly perceptive. “None of us really knew what would happen when you rose, except that you would end up killing most of us.”

My anger began to ebb and now I could see the fear in the robed one’s malnourished faces. Speaking directly to Aventius, I laid out his choices. “Whether you believe it or not, I am Mortis. I’ve already begun to cull the damned so the prophecy is being fulfilled as we speak.” Most blanched at the news, Aventius just looked sorrowful. “I’m on my way right now to kill the First and his horde of grey imps.” I was going to try my hardest to anyway. The outcome was far from set in stone. “When I’m done, there will be very few of our kin left. It’s up to you whether you are on our side or if you are on the First’s side.”

Confusion was the main reaction to my ultimatum. “I thought the First was just a myth,” the delicate strawberry blonde said to her leader.

Hanging his head, Aventius closed his eyes. “I have feared this day for many thousands of years.”

“You mean it’s true?” Joshua said in appalled disbelief. “He’s really real?”

Aventius nodded, lifted his head and opened his eyes. Sinking to his knees, he held his weapon, a second dagger, up to me. “I pledge my loyalty to you, Mortis.” One by one, his followers, my followers now, knelt and held up their weapons.

Throwing a frantic look at Luc, my dark companion just smiled at me faintly. I was on my own here. “Um, rise Aventius and the rest of you.” Geordie snorted a giggle and I elbowed him in the ribs. Hunching over, he shot me a wounded look and rubbed his side. I hadn’t heard any cracks so I didn’t think I’d fractured anything. “Welcome to the team,” I said lamely and they began to rise.

While I wasn’t ecstatic that one of the Councillors had managed to escape from being turned into an imp, at least he could act as a leader while the rest of us were otherwise engaged. They could head back to the mansion in France and take charge of the pitifully few remaining vamps we’d sent that way.

Gregor stepped forward to explain what our goal was and I edged backwards. I had a job to do and I’d been delayed from it for long enough.

Luc was the only one to notice as I scooped up my backpack and crept away. He watched me go without a word. I blew him a kiss and he gave me a tiny smile. His eyes reflected his sorrow that he might never see me again. My chin quivered at the thought and I broke into a silent run as soon as I reached the street.

With the wind blowing my hair back from my face and the stolen jacket flapping behind me, I kept up the sprint. I’d planned on stealing a car and driving to the American soldier’s headquarters but running was far stealthier even if it wasn’t as fast.

Cutting across a field, I vaulted over a fence then stumbled to a stop when bright lights suddenly flared to life. My shadows, starkly outlined on the ground, copied my actions when I lifted a hand to shield my eyes and turned my head away. A sinking sensation hit me as I realized why the First had dropped his shield. He’d been trying to find me so he could lay this trap. If I’d sent out my senses more than just the once, I might have noticed what he was up to. It was too late now, I was caught and would have to fight my way out of this snare.

Guttural voices conversed in our father’s alien language. “Turn it on,” one said.

“I’m trying!” another replied.

Dropping my backpack, I pulled my swords free and took a step forward. Orange light bloomed and gurgles of laughter rang out. A stream of fire from a flamethrower shot out ten feet and my skin began to crawl as I realized what they intended to do to me. Another jet of fire burst forth and then another. More imps had circled around behind me, also carrying flamethrowers.

I’d been advised by the Romanian prophet’s journal that fire couldn’t harm me. It looked like that theory was about to be put to the test. While I might survive the flames, my belongings wouldn’t. As much as I hated to do it, I quickly shucked off the coat and twin sheaths. My swords slid back into safety and I wrapped the coat around my backpack. Tossing the bundle off far enough away that I hoped it would be safe, I waited for the coming barbeque.

Turning in a slow circle, I counted eight imps carrying flamethrowers. Many more of the creatures cavorted just outside the arc of bright lights. One of the imps sent a burst of flame towards me. I sidestepped it easily but another of the bat faced monsters behind me shot his weapon at the same time. Flames licked me and the smell of singed leather wafted away on a faint breeze.

Giggling and gurgling laughter, several of the grey beings aimed and fired. Diving to the side, I did a forward roll then leaped into the air. One of the imps tried to follow my movement and sent a jet of orange flames into the air. Lowering the flamethrower, he forgot to turn it off and accidentally set one of his companions on fire.

Screaming and burning, the female imp ran across the field, leaving a trail of melting flesh behind. Ignoring her plight, the rest of the group moved to surround me again. Far more agile than my much larger former kin, I dodged, ducked, weaved then turned directly into an oncoming fireball.

Engulfed in heat, I fell to the ground, covering my face with my hands. Screaming shrilly, I watched the imps gathering into a tight circle. The upper half of my suit was the only thing burning but I was thrashing around so much that they couldn’t tell the flames weren’t having any effect on me. I felt the heat but it didn’t hurt as I’d expected. I was glad to discover the prophet had been right about my resistance to fire.

Pointing clawed fingers at me and bellowing with laughter, the imps mistakenly thought I was done for. Rolling across the grass, I wrapped myself around the closest clone. My parents had taught me that sharing was a good thing so I passed the flames on. Now it was the imp’s turn to shriek as his loincloth caught on fire and his skin began to melt. Adding insult to injury, I unleashed the holy mark of one of my hands. My fingers sank through flesh, meat and bone until his lower leg came loose.

Hopping on his remaining leg, he crashed into one of the others and the fire spread. Confused questions were bellowed by the imps on the sidelines. None of them seemed to be able to understand that I wasn’t dying. My suit was mostly gone from the waist up but my flesh was unmarked. Finally, one of them realized I was unharmed and turned his flamethrower in my direction. Realizing I was still holding the melted lower leg of the now dead imp, I threw it hard enough to cave the imp’s skull in. He went down with a dazed expression and with his brains leaking out through a crack in his skull.

“The flames aren’t working,” one of the smarter clones roared. As if that was some kind of signal, they started piling on top of me. This again? Hadn’t they figured out by now that crushing vampires didn’t kill them?

I found out that they weren’t intending to crush me fairly quickly. They simply wanted to hold me down.

“Is she secure?” a female imp asked.

“Yes,” came several replies.

“Move so I can see her face,” the female instructed. After some shifting, my head was uncovered. A very pregnant imp crouched down and examined me. I could barely see her batlike face for the bulge in her stomach. She must have been close to term because her skin expanded as tiny fists and feet stretched inside, searching for an escape route. “The First has ordered us to try an experiment if the fire did not kill you,” she said in her guttural alien language.

Translating the words, I felt an automatic chill run through me from my head to my feet. I had no desire to be a lab rat again. “I can’t wait to see where this is going,” I lied.

“He says that you have four shadows because you have tasted the blood of four vampires.” After a short pause, she continued. “He wants to know what will happen if you taste the blood of four of his children.”

My chill became a full blown blizzard through my clogged veins. Strange things happened to me when vampire blood was introduced to my system. I didn’t even want to think what might happen if I tasted imp blood. They have the same blood as us, I told myself frantically. How bad could it be? At worst, I’d end up with another four shadows. Having multiple shadows hadn’t harmed me, so far.

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said but they ignored my warning as I’d expected them to.

Gesturing at three of her brethren, the female took a knife one of them offered her and sliced open her palm. The three male clones copied her. One clamped a hand on my jaw and forced my mouth open. Pinned down by a dozen of the grey skinned monsters, I couldn’t move my hands to unleash the holy marks on them.

Helpless, I watched as four large, clawed hands come to a stop over my face. Moving in tandem, the palms tilted and black blood dripped into my open mouth.

Chapter Twenty

As I’d expected, the taste was hideous. Diseased, tainted and acidic, the combined blood burned its way down my throat and into my stomach. Screaming in pain, I heaved myself off the ground and the pile of imps shifted slightly.

“Hold her down!” screeched the pregnant female imp. She scrambled to her feet and readied herself to run.

Writhing and bucking, I fought against the taint I could feel spreading throughout my entire body. The pain spread until I felt it from the ends of my hair right down to my toenails. The thick, ichor like blood in my veins pulsed as the new blood seep in. The marrow in my bones ached, trying to reject the substance that permeated every iota of my body.

Shuddering in reaction, I felt a tingling sensation in my neck then lost all feeling in my body as my head came loose. It rolled away and came to rest near the feet of the female imp. Squawking in alarm, she moved back even further. One of the imps lying directly on top of my body shouted in alarm when one of my hands popped free and scuttled away from the pile. A grey foot stomped down, squishing it into the ground. Broken and crippled, my hand resumed its crawl at a much slower pace.

“Get off her so we can see what is happening,” the pregnant imp ordered shakily.

I could have told her what was happening but my tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth in horror. My body had broken apart along the same cuts that had first reduced me to being a meat puzzle before being boxed up in a cemetery.

Once the imps had crawled off me, my parts began inching, rolling and squirming in opposite directions. Since the lower half of my suit was still intact, my legs were trapped. I watched in dismay as my ragged pelvis and jagged upper thighs wormed their way free. My feet had already skedaddled, taking the boots with them. Only my lower legs remained inside the leather confines of the pants. They strained against each other and a seam tore. Wriggling free, one of my lower legs humped away through the grass. The other dragged the torn fabric along, unhindered by the heavy leather.

Grinning at my predicament, the female imp had lost her urge to flee. “Stop,” she ordered when one of her cohorts pointed his flamethrower at my torso. It rolled along the ground, slowly working its way through the long grass. “Leave it be. Once the sun comes up, she will be finished.” I wasn’t about to disabuse her of that idea. “Our father will be very pleased to learn of your demise, Mortis.” With that, she left, taking her cohorts with her.

The bright lights were turned off, plunging the field into darkness. After a short while, a number of vehicles drove away. Staring blankly up at the stars, I recalled a dream I’d had of this exact scenario. I thought it had just been a normal dream but it must have been a vision instead.

“What the hell am I supposed to do now?” I asked the sky. It stared back at me without offering me any insights.

Looking around as well as I could since my face was pointing at the sky, all I saw was a sea of grass. I couldn’t spot anything nearby that I could use as cover when the sun came up in several hours. Then I remembered I’d thrown my backpack to safety so my belongings wouldn’t be torched.

With my neck no longer attached to my body, it took practice to force the muscles into motion. Rocking from side to side, my head finally turned over so I was looking at the grass. It made me dizzy to see sky, grass, sky, grass over and over as I rolled but I finally spotted a familiar dark lump.

Rolling to a stop beside my backpack, I was relieved to see the coat had come loose enough that I could hide my head beneath it. Grabbing hold of the grass with my teeth, I pulled my head beneath the coat and made sure it was properly covered. When dawn came, my head would be safe but what about the rest of my body? I shuddered to think what would happen to me if I couldn’t get myself back together again. The last time this had happened, I’d vowed I would drag my bits out into the open and let the sun finish me off. I now knew the sun could burn me down to the bone but I would just regenerate again. Miserable and frightened, I huddled beneath the coat, trying and failing to come up with a plan of action.

A couple of hours later, I heard stealthy movement as something approached through the grass. Whatever it was, it made little noise. I didn’t detect footsteps, just a weird sort of skittering sound. Then I heard the same noise coming from the other side. It must be animals drawn by the smell of cooked imps. The bodies had been dragged away but the crispy smell still lingered.

Something poked the coat right in front of my eyes and I mashed my lips closed to keep in a startled squeak. Poking and prodding, it touched my forehead, paused and moved down to my nose and felt the tip. The second animal joined the party and prodded the back of my head.

Expecting the coat to be nudged aside and something with teeth to appear, I was rattled when the backpack was suddenly yanked out from beneath the coat. I saw a flash of something small and white then the black material settled to the ground. Seconds later, the coat shifted then rolled, trapping my head inside.

Both the coat and backpack were dragged through the grass. It was a long and painfully slow process. I could have chewed my way free from the coat but I had suspicions about what had kidnapped my head. The glimpse of the white thing had made me revise my opinion that it was an animal. It had looked like an albino spider, except arachnids didn’t have fingernails, as far as I knew.

At last, we came to a stop and the coat was flipped open. The first thing I noticed was a jumbled mass of white flesh. I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disturbed that my body parts had regathered again. Since both of my boots were mixed up in the jumble, I assumed my feet hadn’t been able to extricate themselves from their confines.

Lefty and Righty sat on the ground before me as if expecting praise. Maybe they were. “Good job at getting me back together, guys.” It was weird addressing my appendages as if they were living, thinking things.

Righty gave me the thumbs up in response as if it really could hear me. A couple of bones were poking out through the skin from when it had been stomped on by the imp.

Lefty grabbed me by the hair and dragged my head over to the pile. I tried to send my consciousness into the detached pieces but couldn’t even sense them. My attempts to possess them had no effect at all. I was afraid of what would happen once they became reunited. Would I even have control over my own body or would the imp blood have control instead?

Placing my head at the top of the pile, my hands scurried to the rest of the jumble. I had a feeling they’d tried to reattach themselves but hadn’t been able to without the final missing piece. As if in response to the thought, the mass twitched. It took some rearranging but first the feet became connected, then my legs, lower and upper body, hands and arms.

Now only one piece remained. With increasing dread, I watched as my feet pushed my body closer to my head. I felt the usual flood of hot pain when the severed ends met. Whole again, my consciousness was suddenly thrust from my body.

Chapter Twenty-One

I floated in a black emptiness that was devoid of sound. Weightless, I drifted aimlessly with no point of reference or direction to aim for. I wasn’t in the cavern of doom. There were no bonfires to light the dark space. I wasn’t in a jungle with something unspeakably hungry beneath the ground waiting for someone or something to come close enough so that it could feed. I was nowhere and nowhen.

Am I dead? The thought should have frightened me but I was actually relieved. Being an unholy creature of the night, I kind of figured I’d end up in hell once I finally died. Maybe this is hell. Maybe I have to float in the dark alone for all eternity.

Before I could become too uncomfortable with this line of thinking, I opened my eyes. Being utterly weightless, I hadn’t realized that they were even closed. A dull silver metal wall stretched out to either side. It was cold when I brushed my fingertips across it.

Something suddenly bumped into my back. Floundering, I managed to turn around and started back at a face only inches away from mine. Aged, pinched and wrinkled, there was something familiar about the shape of the jaw. Lifeless dirty hair hung limply over the person’s brow.

Reaching out, I touched the ancient cheek lightly, wondering how I knew this vampire. His eyes cracked open slightly. “Help us, Natalie,” the wizened creature croaked.

“Argh!” Sitting up, my heart tried to thud in my chest but couldn’t because it had died along with the rest of me the night I’d been turned by Silvius. I’d had a lot of strange visions during the past six months but that had been one of the weirdest by far.

Distant whispers drew my attention and I cocked my head to listen. They sounded like they were coming from behind me. I turned my head slowly and peered around using my peripheral vision. A group of large beings were huddled about fifty feet away. Massed together, all I could see was that they were very dark. Squinting, I turned further to get a better look.

“Shh, she’s awake,” one muttered in a thick, guttural and inhuman voice.

Recognizing it as the voice of an imp, I surged to my feet only to discover that the group had disappeared. Searching the area, I saw no sign that there had ever been a group at all. The grass was undisturbed and the only footprints were mine. The only signs of movement were the drag marks made by my body parts making their way to the unnatural reunion that had occurred not long ago.

Naked except for the pair of calf high black boots, I retraced my steps. I knelt beside my backpack to retrieve one of my two remaining black suits. Sensing movement, I rolled to the side when something came swooping at me. An imp landed on the ground where I’d been a second ago. Strangely, it had made no sound when landing. Even stranger, its skin was completely black instead of grey. Even its eyes were inky instead of orange. It growled in frustration and I heard the sound inside my head rather than with my ears.

Moonlight filtered through a break in the clouds and I finally realized what had happened. Stretching out in a thin thread, the imp was attached to me by our feet. It turned to lunge at me again. “Hold her!” it snarled and three more dark shapes loomed over me. I’d grabbed my swords as I’d rolled and wasn’t about to let them take me down without a fight. Whipping my head around, I saw my four shadows behind me where they should have been. Each looked back over their shoulder, holding shadow swords. I was relieved to see that they weren’t sentient yet.

Now that I had imp blood in my system, I’d also been dubiously gifted with four new imp shadows. They were indeed sentient and were intent on killing me. As I stood, three of the silhouettes made a grab for me. My swords slashed out, cutting through their insubstantial forms. The weapons had absolutely no effect but neither did they. Their hands passed through my flesh as if they were ghosts.

“What’s going on? Why can’t we touch her?” one of the imps snarled in our dead father’s language.

Scratching its head, the first silhouette reached out to prod me with a clawed finger. The finger poked into my eye, cutting off my sight but causing me no pain. Gathering itself, the shadow jumped at me, passed right through and sprawled on the ground again.

“But, one of us is supposed to be able to possess her,” one of the other three whined. “What are we supposed to do now?”

None of them had an answer and I wasn’t about to offer any suggestions. My brain was churning with panic as I donned one of my black suits. I was just as clueless as they were as to why they existed. Shrugging on the coat, I shouldered the backpack. Despite my fear and confusion, I still had a job to do. I’d worry about my growing following of shadows later.

After my head had been dragged off while wrapped up in the coat, I’d lost my sense of direction. I wasn’t sure which way to go to locate the town containing the captured possessed vampire. Sending out my senses, I found nothing to help me. Either the First hadn’t heard about my supposed demise or he was just being cautious and continued to blank out every vampire and imp within several hundred kilometres.

Hunger gnawed at my insides, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten for a while. Picking a direction, I soon heard the intermittent sounds of traffic. My four new unwanted companions kept up a constant noise of bickering in my head as I sprinted towards the highway.

Reaching the highway, I heard another car approaching and did my best to look small and defenceless. Headlights hit me and I raised an arm to cut the glare. I began to suspect that the driver could see the four hulking imp shadows when the car swerved and almost ran off the road. Having four shadows overlapping behind me was bad enough. Having four monster sized ones standing up, looking around, scratching their nuts and reaching out menacingly with clawed hands was far worse.

Screeching to a halt, the car stalled and panicked screams came from within. Sending an annoyed glare at the new additions to my collection, I jogged over to the car before the driver could have a stroke. Spying me and my escorts coming towards him, he fumbled for the lock but was too late.

Yanking open the door, I pulled the driver out and captured him with my eyes. Instantly relaxing, a goofy smile replaced his expression of abject terror. Small, thin and in his fifties, he didn’t make a very attractive meal but I had little choice at the moment.

Checking to make sure the highway was empty in both directions, I fed from him and led him around to the passenger side of the car. He slid into the seat with a contented smile. There wasn’t enough room for five of us in the front seat so the imps settled into the back seat. Squished up, they overlapped each other, elbowing for room. I felt a hysterical laugh bubbling up but kept it in. So far, I hadn’t noticed any physical or mental changes after being further infected with alien blood. But that could change at any moment.

Staring at the side of my face, my meal made a dreamy observation. “You’re so lovely. You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.” He started listing what he liked about me. “Your skin is so creamy. Your hair is so soft. Your eyes are so orange.”

Automatically translating his rambling conversation, my head jerked sideways at the last comment. “Did you just say that my eyes are orange?”

“They’re like ripe pumpkins ready to be picked and eaten,” he replied happily.

Fumbling for the rear view mirror, I angled it so that I was looking directly at my reflection. Sure enough, my eyes had turned the same shade of orange as the First’s clones. Aghast, I hoped my subconscious would pipe up with something helpful. After a few seconds of internal debate, it offered its distinctly unhelpful insight. You’re screwed.

Chapter Twenty-Two

My snack was able to point me in the correct direction of the town that contained my goal. He seemed uneasy at the idea of going anywhere near one of the towns that had been raided by the imps. To me, it seemed like a far safer place to be than somewhere that had yet to be attacked.

Dawn was only an hour away when we neared our destination. Up ahead, I spied an army barricade across the exit that led to the town. Pulling over, I instructed my dreamy meal to resume his journey and set off the rest of the way on foot.

A long line of vehicles had been stopped at the barricade. Motors were turned off and drivers and passengers had left their cars. They were squabbling with either Russian or American soldiers, stating their reasons why they needed to enter the town.

Sneaking around the edges of the crowd, I was very careful not to be spotted by the soldiers guarding the perimeter of the town. Most wore night vision goggles and I wondered how I would look to them. My body temperature was far lower than a human’s so maybe I would just be an indistinct blob.

Hunkering down behind a tree, ignoring the imps that had resumed their squabbling, I studied two soldiers that were guarding an alley. The sun would be up soon and they were both flagging. One was leaning against the wall of a five story apartment building. He blinked a few times, shook his head briskly then immediately began fighting to keep his eyes open again. The other soldier was smoking, which seemed to be helping to keep him alert. “I’m going to take a piss,” he murmured to his colleague in Russian. He turned his back and moved deeper into the alley, already unzipping his pants.

Watching the remaining soldier carefully, I snuck closer and crouched down behind a dark car parked just down the road. More soldiers were only a hundred or so feet away but they were turned away. If any of them glanced over their shoulder, they would see the four inhuman shadows standing in a huddle.

The soldier’s eye closed for a few seconds then sprang open again before immediately trying to close once more. His partner urinated against a wall barely twenty feet away. The strong smell of pee floated out of the mouth of the alley. It was strong to me anyway but the lone soldier didn’t seem to notice it.

When his eyes closed again, I was on my feet and moving. Before he had the time to snap himself awake, I had launched myself into the air. My gaggle of shadows reluctantly followed, not that they had a choice since they were tethered to me. Landing on a narrow ledge two floors up, I looked down to make sure no one had seen me. None of the soldiers were screaming or pointing their guns at me so I figured I’d remained undetected.

Shuffling quietly, I worked my way around the corner, mostly hidden behind the imps. They floated in the air, weightless, insubstantial and thankfully impotent. The building next door had a fire escape, which was my intended destination. I waited until the smoking soldier had finished his business and ambled back to his partner before jumping across to the metal staircase.

This building was ten stories high and I climbed to the top quickly. After a rapid search, I ascertained that the rooftop was clear of soldiers. Inside the stairwell, I listened intently but detected no sound coming from anywhere in the building. The stairwell wasn’t the most comfortable place to spend the day in but I would be safe from the sun in here. My new orange eyes glowed softly, dimly illuminating the dusty stairs. Too keyed up to sleep, I took a seat and listened to my new companions complaining. They’d hunkered down a few steps up from me.

“Why can’t one of us take her over?” one of them was saying.

“She’s Mortis, remember? Maybe she can’t be taken over.”

“But she’s just a vampire. She’s weak and pathetic. One of us should be able to take control.”

“I think maybe we can’t control her because none of us came from her. We only exist because she was fed our blood.”

“She has four vampire shadows as well. Are they as restricted as we are? Can only her true, original shadow gain possession?” They mulled the idea over.

“Where does that leave us then?” the query was plaintive.

“We’ll just have to see what happens once she comes face to face with our Father,” one decided. At last, they’d come to an agreement and piped down.

Lying on the cold, uncomfortable concrete landing, I allowed myself to fall asleep.

Instead of dreaming myself into the First’s lair, the clearing in the jungle or the strange weightless nothingness of my latest vision, I dreamt I was in my bed back home in Australia.

Getting up from the comfortable but worn mattress, I moved into the bathroom. My reflection showed me an almost plain face and grey eyes. Beneath the white t-shirt that was my nightie, my chest rose and fell as I breathed. For the first time in over half a year, my heart was beating in my chest. Tears trickled down to my chin as I mourned my lost humanity. The ordinary woman staring back at me with her drab, mundane life was dead and I could never be her again.

My eyes blurred and when I wiped away the tears with my sleeve, my reflection had tripled. The image on the left had the supernatural beauty that I’d gained with undeath. The one on the right had similar features but her skin was greyish and her eyes glowed orange. The one in the middle was my original self.

“We are your three natures,” said my human self. “I contain your compassion and empathy for humans.”

“I contain healing, speed and strength,” said the vampire side of me.

My third and newest nature measured me with its glowing orbs. “What have I gained from you?” I asked it when it remained silent.

“From me you have gained the lust to do battle.”

“Great,” I muttered. I already had a thirst for blood and sex. Was I now going to have the overwhelming need to kill everything in sight? Am I going to develop a hunger for human flesh? If I’d become alive again then I would have been more worried about that possibility. I would need active digestive juices to break down solid food.

“Together, we three will help you to become what you were destined to be,” my human reflection said.

“And what am I destined to be?” I asked her.

My vampire side of me slid sideways to overlap the human reflection and the imp side followed. Merging together, they became the reflection I had grown used to. Only the faintly glowing orange eyes were new. “You are Mortis,” they said as one. “You are death.”

On that not so comforting note, I woke to the darkness of the stairwell. The glow from my eyes had subsided. I held onto the hope that no one would be able to tell that I’d been infected with even more blood that didn’t belong to me. The hope faded when my imp companions stood, stretched and stared at me dejectedly. Their presence shouted quite clearly that there was something seriously not normal about me.

“Come on then, let’s go,” I muttered.

“As if we have a choice,” one of them said acerbically.

“I’m not particularly happy to have you following me around either you know,” I responded crankily.

“Wait a minute, can she hear us?” one of them said in astonishment.

I turned to face them and they stumbled to a halt a couple of steps above me. “Of course I can hear you.”

Exchanging looks, they seemed to be at a loss. “So you know what we’ve been saying all along?”

“Yep. I know that none of you can possess me and your master plan is to wait until I visit the cavern of doom and see what happens.”

“What’s the cavern of doom?” one of them asked in puzzlement.

Shaking my head, I resumed the trek downwards. They debated about what I’d meant and I did my best to ignore their murmuring.

Now that I’d reached the town, I needed to locate the possessed vampire. I assumed that Colonel Sanderson would be close to the vamp they’d captured. Surely he’d want to keep a close watch on a creature he and the rest of humanity had thought was just a myth.

Taking a back exit, I stuck to the shadows and crept to the end of the narrow alley. Headlights bloomed and I ducked back as an army truck drove slowly past. Secure in the knowledge that all entry points to the town were being watched, the soldiers only desultorily searched for intruders.

With so many men patrolling the streets, I was concerned I would be discovered. If I didn’t give myself away, one of the shadows accompanying me might. The black imps made no effort at all to conceal themselves. I was lucky only I could hear their almost constant grumbling. It was hard to tell if they were more disgusted with their existence or if I was. Being insubstantial, they couldn’t act out their natural impulses to kill and maim.

Working my way deeper into the small town, I heard a babble of many voices in the same location and moved to investigate. Peering around the corner of an apartment building, I studied what I suspected might be the town’s police headquarters. Only three stories high, it seemed almost squat sitting between two much higher buildings. Twin alleys cut alongside the building, separating it from its neighbours. I hoped that one of them would help me to gain access to the place. Painted stark white, I was not going to have an easy time blending in when I tried to break into it.

It made sense that the soldiers would choose to have their headquarters in a police station. It would have fairly secure cells to lock up any imps they managed to capture. Instead of an imp, all they’d managed to nab so far was a lone vampire.

Obtaining video evidence of us was bad enough but now the soldiers had actual physical proof of our existence. Worrying about how that boded for us as a species would have to wait. I had bigger problems than that right now. Yeah, like how I’m going to get into that building without causing a riot. No doubt every soldier in the city would know who I was on sight. I needed to sneak inside, find Colonel Sanderson and somehow convince him not to try to kill me without alerting every soldier in town.

Good luck with that, my subconscious snorted, giving me the distinct impression that I was on my own with this one.

Chapter Twenty-Three

As I studied the entrance, one of the imps grew bored and poked his head out to see what I was looking at. Jerking back before it could be spotted, I dragged the bevy of reluctant shadows with me.

“Are you trying to get me caught?” I hissed at it.

“Why should I care if you are or not?” it sneered.

“Think about this, moron, if I die then what do you think will happen to you?” It was highly unlikely that I could die but they didn’t know that.

“She’s right,” one of the others said. “If she ceases to exist, then so will we.”

“We hardly exist at all right now,” another complained.

“There might still be a possibility that one of us could gain control,” a third said and the others perked up at the news.

“What do you mean?”

I felt like echoing the question but stayed out of their discussion. My success at entering the headquarters uncontested could hinge on this conversation. Although I wanted to speak to the Colonel, I didn’t want to have to fight my way through his men to do it.

“We don’t know what will happen when Mortis faces our Father,” the third imp said. “We think her original shadow will be the one to take her over but I’m not so sure that will be the case.”

“Why not?” two of them asked simultaneously.

“Look at them.” Four heads swivelled to stare at my human shaped shadows. There was barely any light in the alley and they were just faint marks on the ground. “They’re puny and weak. Any one of us is a match for all four of them.” Was it just my imagination or did one of the shadows twitch slightly? I wished there was more light shining in the alley so they would stand out more clearly. I was having greater and greater difficulty trusting any of my shadows.

“So, what are you saying? That we should help the vampire reach our Father?” another of the huge shapes queried.

Shrugging massive shoulders, the third imp nodded. “The sooner she reaches him, the sooner our fate will be decided.” Thinking about it, the other three reluctantly agreed.

“Can you sense the First?” I asked curiously. If they could then I wouldn’t have to use the captured vampire as bait.

“No,” one of them replied. Being identical, I couldn’t tell which of them had replied. “We are linked to you and can only sense what you can sense.”

Since I couldn’t sense anything right now, then that meant neither could they. I was hoping this also meant the First couldn’t sense us. We wouldn’t have much of a chance of sneaking up on him if he knew where I was at all times. Then again, he was counting on me arriving so he could turn me into an imp. He probably had a welcome mat ready to lay out for me and sneaking wouldn’t be necessary. Unless he thought I really had perished when the sun had come up. I couldn’t count on that so figured I’d stick with my plan.

Now that I had the imp’s agreement not to hinder me, I took one last look at the front of the police headquarters. It would be a very bad idea to try to enter that way. The pair of American soldiers guarding the front door were far more alert than the two I’d snuck past just before dawn.

With so many soldiers patrolling on foot, it would be risky for me to attempt to sneak closer at ground level. Going up was my best option. Tilting my head back, I eyed the rickety fire escape attached to the closest building and decided against using it. My aim was to be stealthy, not to bring every soldier within earshot running to my location. With the amount of rust flaking off the fire escape, it would probably detach from the wall the instant I touched it.

I was about to turn the corner and enter the street when I heard breathing. Cigarette smoke wafted across the mouth of the alley. Motioning the imps back, I eased into the shadows to wait out the human standing sentry. Knowing how much humans disliked inactivity, I figured he’d move on sooner or later.

After a few minutes, my patience was rewarded when the cigarette butt was dropped to the ground. A boot heel stomped it and mashed it to death, choking out the scent of burning paper and tobacco. I plastered my back to the wall when the human walked past the alley. He cast a cursory look into the darkness and moved on.

When his footsteps faded, I checked that the way was clear and flitted down the street. Footsteps and low conversation told me that more soldiers were somewhere nearby. I winced when we passed beneath a streetlight, expecting alarmed shouts to ring out but we remained unspotted.

Casting a glance back to make sure that all of my shadows were behaving themselves, I did a double take when I noticed that something had changed. My feet tangled and I almost tripped. Thanks to my quick reflexes, I didn’t sprawl on my face but merely took a couple of quick steps to catch my balance.

Halfway down the next alley, I leaped up to a much newer and far more secure fire escape and headed to the roof. It was clear of soldiers so I turned to confront my diminished following. Instead of four imp shadows, I now only had three. I was far from upset by this but I was concerned that one of them seemed to be missing and I hadn’t heard or sensed its disappearance.

“Why have you stopped?” one of the remaining three asked me.

“Do you see anything wrong with this picture?” My gesture encompassed all three of them. They looked from me to each other then back at me. It was difficult to tell since they were uniform black but I believed their expressions were blank.

The middle one took another look then made a startled noise. “One of us is missing!”

“Where did he go?” asked the one on the left.

“I heard nothing,” the one on the right said.

They looked at me suspiciously and I threw my hands up. “I didn’t do it. Something must have nabbed him when we were in the alley.” All of my concentration had been on the smoking human. I assumed theirs had been as well.

“What could have done this?” True distress came from the one in the middle. It was weird to see such a large creature wringing its hands in fright.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “Keep your eyes open and let me know if you see anything strange.” It was the only advice I had to offer them.

Working my way across the roof, I jumped across to the next building. I kept away from the edge and stayed low so I wouldn’t draw any attention. The three imps followed me closely, hunching down but still managing to tower over me. They swivelled their heads on constant lookout for whatever had snatched their brother. I was hiding it well but I was quietly shaking on the inside.

Crossing several more rooftops, I finally reached the police headquarters. A gap of fifteen feet separated me from my goal. The roof was much lower than the building I was currently hunkered on. If I jumped from here, I’d be sure to make too much noise and draw unwanted attention when I landed.

Spying a half open window on the second floor, I decided it would be my best way of gaining entry. I’d have to be quick if I wanted to exploit the oversight. My entrance wouldn’t be subtle but at least this side of the building was far less exposed than the front. Four guards, two at each end, watched the entrances of the alley and only occasionally bothered to look behind them. When they did, none tilted their heads back to examine the windows.

I lacked a handy fire escape to jump from this time so pulled open the door leading to the interior stairwell of the building. Since the humans had either been eaten, kidnapped or evacuated from the area, it was still inside.

Descending to the third floor, I opened the door leading to the apartments and trotted to the end of the hall. Peering out through the dirty window, I saw that it wasn’t quite lined up with the window across the road. It would have to do. Pushing on the window, at first it didn’t want to move but finally shot upwards with a screech. Startled murmurs came from the two closest soldiers. They clicked their flashlights on and searched the nearby shadows. When their probing didn’t flush out any imps or vampires, they gave up and went back to their posts.

While they’d been searching, I’d launched myself into the air and landed neatly on the windowsill I’d been aiming for. Carefully brushing aside a set of metal blinds, I and my entourage crept inside what turned out to be an office. From the tiny size of the room, I figured it was a secretary’s lair. The scent of perfume still lingered. Pictures of an attractive brunette posing with what seemed to be friends and family sat on the desk. I pondered briefly whether she’d made it out of the town alive or if she’d ended up in one of the cages in the cavern of doom. For all I knew she’d already been spitted and eaten.

Two of the imps were huddled near the wall during my brief search. I looked around for the third one didn’t see it anywhere. My four normal shadows were still all accounted for. How strange do things have to get when you start thinking having four shadows is in any way normal? Badly spooked now, I turned in a circle but there were definitely only two black imps present.

“And now we are two,” one of them said with dark foreboding.

“Did you see anything?” I asked them.

The shadow shook its batlike head. “We saw and heard nothing.”

“It’ll be our turn next,” its clone whined shakily.

There was nothing I could do about their disappearance so I returned to the task at hand. Maybe they’re disappearing because your body is assimilating the imp blood, my subconscious suggested. It was possible that they were only a temporary manifestation and were fading one by one. I admit I liked this theory better than some unseen, unheard entity somehow disposing of them.

Walking around armed wouldn’t aid me in gaining allies. Soldiers tended to shoot at something they saw as a threat. It would be sensible to be seen as nonthreatening as possible considering that I preyed on humans for food. Leaving my weapons and backpack beneath the missing secretary’s desk, I hoped the room wouldn’t be searched any time soon. Closing the window to hide my entry point seemed like a smart move. It slid down without a sound.

So far so good. Now I just need to stumble across the Colonel and try to convince him to team up with me. Stepping out into the hallway, I waited until the imps stepped out after me then closed the door. I detected a large number of humans in one of the rooms nearby. Most were either sleeping or speaking quietly. They were working in shifts and for some of them it was nap time.

Down the hall and around the corner, I located a large meeting room that had been turned into a makeshift barracks. A window in the door allowed me to examine the soldiers sleeping on thin mattresses on the floor. None were the man I sought so I moved on.

Three more rooms had been converted into sleeping quarters and none contained the Colonel. Moving to the staircase leading down to the ground floor, I heard humans bustling around down there. The night wouldn’t last forever and I had a lot of explaining to do to the American soldier when we finally met. I contemplated deliberately running into a human so he could direct me to his boss. What’s the worst they could do to me? I’d had so many attempts made on my unlife by now that it didn’t bother me much that the soldiers would undoubtedly also try to kill me. I just hoped I didn’t create a mass panic once my identity was discovered.

Shrugging inwardly, I took the stairs and pulled the door open. Instead of an open space, I found myself in a rabbit warren of corridors. Footsteps approached then veered off in another direction. More footsteps came from the opposite direction and also stopped short of reaching me. Jeez, what do I have to do to get discovered around here?

Turning left, I rounded the corner and almost ran into a soldier. Preoccupied by the clipboard in his hands, he only noticed I was standing in front of him when he was right on top of me. Halting, he looked up and his mouth turned into a circle of surprise. His eyes moved behind me and saw the two hulking shadows flanking me like a pair of bodyguards. Hitching in a breath to scream, he dropped the clipboard and fumbled for the gun at his hip.

Before he could unleash his scream of terror, I grabbed him by the chin and redirected his gaze. Our eyes met and the fright washed out of him, leaving a goofy smile in place of his former alarm.

“Take me to Colonel Sanderson,” I commanded him before he could begin telling me how wonderful I was.

My hypnotized guide kept trying to stare at me as he led the way. This resulted in him tripping over his feet and sprawling to the ground. He didn’t land quietly and a pair of soldiers came running to help him up.

Uh oh, I had time to think before they lifted the guy to his feet. Both saw me and my strange entourage at roughly the same time and instantly recognized me. Before they could scream for assistance, I made them mine. Now I had three men in my thrall. “Where is Colonel Sanderson?” I asked the original soldier.

“He’s in the meeting room, ma’am.”

I hid a snigger at being called ma’am. Being an Aussie, I usually only heard the term on TV or movies. “How many other people are in the meeting room with him?”

“No one at the moment, ma’am,” one of my latest conquests rushed to reply.

“The Colonel requested some time alone to plan, ma’am,” the third guy said earnestly.

“You’re so gorgeous,” my first captive said with a resurgence of his goofy smile.

“Yeah, I know,” was my absent reply. “Let’s go, boys. Take me to your leader.” As soon as I said it, I felt like an alien invader. In a way, I kind of was.

During our relatively short journey, we encountered several more soldiers. By the time we reached the door to the meeting room, I had eight men surrounding me. All were staring at me worshipfully. “How pathetic. Humans have no willpower,” sniffed one of my imp guardians. The other snorted its agreement.

The door to the room was closed but not locked. Opening it a crack, I searched it quickly. Apart from the tall, thin, blonde guy standing with his back to me, the room was empty of people. A large, rectangular table with a dozen battered wooden seats took up most of the space. Maps were spread out on it and the American leader was staring at one intently.

While I entered the room silently, my entourage of humans scuffed their feet, bumped into each other and generally made a racket. The Colonel straightened and spun around. The hand hovering over his gun hesitated then dropped to his side when he saw who had interrupted him.

Seeing him in the flesh rather than on TV, I could tell how tired he was. The stress of his job had cut grooves into his forehead. “This is an unexpected surprise,” he said calmly, taking in his mesmerized soldiers. His gaze flickered when he spied the black silhouettes. He recognized them as being imps and groped for his gun again.

“Don’t bother, they’re just shadows. They can’t hurt you.” Of course, that went both ways. No amount of gunfire would harm my rapidly dwindling number of companions.

“How? What? Who?” The Colonel was searching for coherent questions to ask me but couldn’t quite wrap his brain around what he was seeing. He made a valiant effort and gathered himself. “We’ve been searching for you.”

“Now you’ve found me.” I could tell that he didn’t appreciate my attempt at humour. “We need to talk,” I said then had a sinking feeling when his eyes flicked over my shoulder.

“I am more interested in putting an end to you than in speaking with you,” he replied and gave me a small, hard smile.

Feet scuffed the floor behind me and a cold metal object was pressed up against the back of my head. Another soldier must have followed the rest of us to the meeting room and had just pulled his gun on me. “I wouldn’t do that if I were-” Before I could finish my warning, the soldier pulled the trigger.

My skin, bone, flesh and brains splattered the floor. Staggering forward a step, I placed a hand over the gigantic hole where my forehead used to be as everything went blank for a few seconds. Then my freaky healing powers kicked in and my body repaired itself.

Whirling around, I stared into the soldier’s eyes and he became my instant slave. “The other human is getting away,” one of the imps informed me.

Hearing a door open behind me, I realized what the imp meant. The Colonel was fast for a guy in his late forties but not anywhere near as fast as me. Moving with unnatural speed, I popped up in front of him. Unable to stop his momentum, he bounced off me and hit the floor.

Scrambling back, he shielded his eyes with a hand to stop me from beguiling him and tried to control his panic. “What do you want?” he asked me with quiet desperation.

“I just want to talk, Colonel,” I said as soothingly as possible considering he probably thought I was there to eat him. “I promise I won’t bedazzle you if you don’t try to shoot me.”

Looking up cautiously, the Colonel took a peek at my face. “Where are you from? You don’t sound Russian,” he said in confusion.

“I’m Australian. My name is Natalie.” I didn’t offer him my hand to shake and he didn’t seem inclined to offer his own.

He stood shakily, brushing off his pants and absently checking his gun was still in place. “What is it you want to talk about?” His attention wandered from me to the imps then to the four shadows overlapping each other then back to me again. I appreciated the fact that he had a lot to take in but I had a job to do. The more time we wasted talking, the more humans would end up either dead or converted.

The group of soldiers I’d enthralled had followed us and stood in a silent, goofily smiling mob. “Before we talk, what do you want me to do with this lot?” I asked, pointing behind him.

Looking over his shoulder, the Colonel shook his head in weary bemusement. “Just tell them to go about their usual duties,” he suggested.

“All of you,” I addressed the crowd, “return to your normal jobs.” While they didn’t snap completely out of their dazed states, they were far more alert after a few seconds. What I didn’t anticipate was that they took me literally. One by one, they all pulled their guns on me.

Seizing the opportunity to do away with me, Sanderson shouted an order. “Shoot her!”

Almost as one, his men opened fire. My head disintegrated under the barrage of bullets and my lights went out.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Waking up from a horrible nightmare where my head had been blown off, I snuggled into my cold, concrete mattress. Hang on, my mattress isn’t usually cold or made of concrete! The thought was eerily familiar, as if I’d had this dream before or one very much like it.

Opening my eyes, I found myself lying on the floor of a tiny cell. One of the imps was hunkered down next to me. It gave me a look that I couldn’t read because of its blank black face but I sensed that it was frightened. After a quick glance around, I knew why. Apart from my other four ‘normal’ shadows, it was now all alone.

“I don’t suppose you saw what happened this time?” I asked it with little hope of a positive answer.

Shaking its head in the negative, it stood when I did. “I only noticed that he was gone after the soldiers threw you into the cell.”

My new quarters weren’t very welcoming. White paint on the floor, walls and ceiling gave it an almost clinical atmosphere. Apart from a small cot, basin and a toilet, the cell was bare. The walls were made of thick concrete and the door was made of metal equally dense. A window set at head height in the door was made of several layers of either glass or tough plastic. Through it, I saw a cell directly opposite mine.

By pressing my face up against the window, I could see more cells down both sides of a hallway. The hallway was also painted a shiny white. From the cracks in the concrete and slight rust in the doors, this place looked to be several decades old. Maybe it’s an old war shelter. My subconscious responded to my thought with its usual sarcasm. War shelters don’t usually come equipped with prison cells. I wasn’t sure how the deepest part of my mind could know something that I didn’t. Maybe it paid more attention than I did.

Taking a seat on the cot, my scrambled memory finally put itself to rights. My meeting with Colonel Sanderson had gone even worse than I’d expected and now I was his prisoner. It would be nice if, just for once, the people I wanted to ally myself with didn’t try to kill me as soon as we met. I was used to making a terrible impression but I just wished I could figure out how to counteract my natural ability to alienate people.

Sending out my senses, I came up empty. I had no idea where I was but I could tell I was somewhere beneath the earth. It was cool and the smell of soil lurked behind the walls.

“I took a look around while your head was growing back,” the last remaining imp said. “There are a dozen cells just like this one down here.”

“You mean you can move outside the cell? How?”

Holding up a clawed hand in demonstration, it made the appendages stretch out for several feet. They grew thinner and thinner until they touched the ceiling.

“Did you see anything useful?” I asked it.

Shrinking the hand back to its normal size, the imp shadow shrugged. “There is an ascended vampire at the far end of the hallway. I spoke to his master for some time. He is anxious to resume his journey to meet our Father and is angry that he is being detained. He plans to rip apart any humans that he comes into contact with once he escapes.”

Since the vamp hadn’t escaped yet, I thought the humans were probably safe enough. It was a relief to know that I’d been jailed along with the very possessed vampire I’d come to retrieve. Now I wouldn’t have to waste time searching for him. It was also good to know the vamp was still intact. The scientists would want to study their find and perform all kinds of experiments on him. They’d also want to perform the same experiments on me. I didn’t think we were still in the police station. I believed we had been moved to another, even more secure location. “Did the soldiers move me far from the police headquarters?”

“You mean from the small white building?” I nodded and the silhouette pondered. “You were put into a truck and driven for several blocks.”

“Did the soldiers try to kill you?” Knowing humans, I’d bet they hadn’t been able to resist the attempt despite my warning to the Colonel that it would be useless.

Chuckling, the imp nodded. “They used guns, knives and even fire.”

From the untouched state of my coat and leather suit, they hadn’t tried any of the above on me. Checking my watch, I saw I’d been out of it long enough for the sun to have risen some time ago. I wasn’t surprised that it had taken me so long to regenerate. Blood, bone and brains would have been splattered everywhere when the soldiers had opened fire on me. My head hadn’t just been severed, it had been completely shattered. I’d had to regrow myself from the neck up. Just like when the sun had boiled me down to a skeleton, full renewal of my cells took time. At least my memory had also come back. I hated waking up to rediscover that I wasn’t human anymore and automatically assuming I was some kind of zombie.

Since I detected no sound or movement coming from my possessed kin, I guessed he must be less than three hundred years old. Not even his ascended shadow could keep him awake while the sun was up. I wondered if the soldiers would be surprised when they discovered that I was awake. If you think they aren’t spying on you right now, then you’re even dumber than you look, my snide subconscious told me.

As always, my subconscious was right. I found the camera high up in a corner of the room and was glad I no longer needed to go to the bathroom. Knowing people were watching me, I doubted I could have peed even if I’d been busting to go.

One of the watchers almost certainly had to be Colonel Sanderson. I wondered what he had planned for me. Since I’d been captured on film twice, he knew I was dangerous. Unfortunately, he didn’t know I was only dangerous to the creatures we both hunted.

I hadn’t had the chance to make my pitch for partnership to him earlier but I might as well make it now. It was the reason I had tracked him down after all. I just hoped the camera was also equipped with a microphone so he could hear me.

Standing, I stared directly up at the miniscule camera. “I would like to speak to Colonel Sanderson. If he’s not there, please go and get him. I’ll give you five minutes.”

Taking a seat again, I counted down on my watch until the time was up. Then I stood and addressed the camera again. “As you’ve probably guessed by now, I’m a vampire. So is the person down the hall from me.” I pointed in the direction the imp had indicated the vamp to be in. “Unlike me, he’s been tainted and will soon be turned into one of the ‘unknown entities’ that are killing and kidnapping the humans.” I hoped they were paying attention and wouldn’t just write me off as a lunatic.

“The ‘unknown entities’, or imps as I like to call them, have a leader and my job is to kill him. Once he’s dead, no new imps will be made and humanity will be saved. I can’t do this alone. I need your guns and your help to take them down.” Checking my watch, I gave the silent watchers an ultimatum. “I’ll give you ten minutes to decide whether you want to be sensible and become my ally or if you want to be stupid and become my enemy.”

This time, I didn’t sit down but stood and watched the minute hand creep slowly around until the allotted time was up. The imp shadow impatiently paced up and down the cell like a restless lion longing for freedom.

Ten minutes rolled around and the Colonel didn’t appear to offer me a partnership. “Fine. Be that way,” I said to the camera and to the American, who I could almost feel watching me. “I’ll take them down by myself you coward.” There, I hope that stung.

During the ten minutes I’d given the American soldier to think over my offer, I’d come up with a plan on how I might be able to escape from the cell. Digging my way out wasn’t an option. The door and walls were too thick to break through. The only weak spot I’d been able to identify was the window in the otherwise impenetrable metal door.

I wanted to launch my plan into action immediately but couldn’t until closer to sundown. There would be little point in trying to break both myself and the captured vamp free while the sun was still blazing away. Lying down on the cot, I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep.

“What are you doing?” the imp asked me.

“Killing time until the sun goes down,” I replied softly, hoping the microphone didn’t pick up my words.

It was a long, boring wait and I eventually dozed off.

Straight away, I knew I was dreaming. Instead of lying down on a cot, I was standing in a clearing in a jungle. From the not so fresh carcass of a deer lying on the outer edge of the circular space, I figured this was the same clearing I’d previously visited.

Whatever had searched so hungrily for food last time was now dormant. I sensed no presence this time. Treading quietly, I moved to the centre of the clearing. Night birds burst into flight and few directly overhead. When they reached the centre of the treeless space, they panicked, collided then fell to the ground.

One broke its neck and died instantly. The other one flapped shattered wings, scrambling in the dirt in a circle as it tried vainly to fly away. Standing directly in the middle of the area, I felt something beneath the ground wake. I sensed eyes opening and peering upwards. The crippling hunger rose up to surround me.

It’s heart beating hard and fast enough for me to hear it, the bird gave a final cry then had the avian equivalent of a heart attack. Instead of receding, the hunger swelled until it overwhelmed me.

Dropping to my knees, I snatched up the closest bird and my fangs descended. I drained the creature dry then reached for the other one. They had far too little blood to quench my thirst and I was hungrier than I’d ever been in my life, both living or undead. Light from my eyes bathed my hands in an orange glow.

Tossing the carcasses aside, I lurched to my feet, intent on finding more prey.

Snapping awake, I sat up and the imp shadow sitting beside me on the floor started. I was surprised to see it was still there. With its clones gone, I figured it would also fade. “Did anything happen while I was asleep?” I asked.

“No. It has been very quiet.”

So, the Colonel hadn’t made any attempt to contact me and offer an alliance. It was time to proceed with my plan. A quick look at my watch told me I had better get a move on. The timing was crucial so I stood and readied myself for action.

If I was going to try to escape from the cell, I would need to do it unseen. Judging the distance to the tiny camera in the corner of the room carefully, I jumped up and punched it. It disintegrated with a crunch and an alarmed squawk from the microphone that had been attached to it. Without the electronic eyes and ears spying on me, I moved to the door. Banging my fist on the window told me it was made of thick plastic instead of glass. It shivered but didn’t crack. My next blow was much harder and shattered most of the bones in my hand. The pain was sharp but fleeting as the bones instantly reknit.

“Go and keep watch,” I ordered the imp. “Let me know if you see any soldiers.” To my surprise, the shadow obeyed my order. It sank to the floor and oozed out through the tiny crack then slid along the white floor like an oil stain, stretching out towards the elevator.

Knowing soldiers would be coming to see what I was up to, I alternated my hands, punching the window as hard and fast as I could. My fists were a blur as they cracked through four layers of thick plastic. Blood and bone speckled the door and the chunks of plastic that fell to the cement floor. I knew I couldn’t escape through the window. It was too small for my head to fit through let alone the rest of my body. But it was small enough for one or two objects to fit through and I hoped they would be enough to help set me free.

Already, I could hear the distant sound of an elevator in motion, descending towards my floor. The imp returned and materialized beside me. “The soldiers will be here very soon,” it warned me.

Working fast and grimacing in pain as I did so, I plucked my right eye from its socket. The last time I’d tried to possess my detached body parts, I’d failed completely. The imp blood had been fresh in my system then. I was pretty sure I’d regained full control again but there was only one way to find out.

Holding my eye up to my face, I sent some of my consciousness into the orb. I closed my left eye and saw my face through the detached one. The socket I’d plucked it from welled with dark, sluggish blood. It wasn’t a pretty sight.

Relief coursed through me so I continued on with my plan. Step one was complete and I gingerly placed the eyeball on the floor. Then I took my right hand by the wrist. I was about to tear it loose when a red mark appeared where it had previously been severed. As if in reaction to my thought that I wanted it to detach, the hand popped free. I half expected it to start moving on its own but it remained unanimated.

Splitting my consciousness, I possessed my hand. Righty flexed its fingers then gave me the thumbs up. I was pretty sure it was acting on my orders and I had subconsciously made it do that.

It was time for phase three of my plan so I bent and picked up my eye. Righty cupped the orb protectively and I tossed the pair out through the hole in the window. My hand bounced then skidded a couple of feet. Hearing just how close the elevator was now, I forced my hand to scuttle down the hallway. The stump had already stopped oozing sluggish blood so no drops would be left to betray its progress.

Using the optic nerves that dangled from the back of my eye, I wound them around two of my fingers and held on tight. At a casual glance, the orb would appear to be a gigantic, gaudy gemstone. But gemstones didn’t have veins filled with black blood, an overlarge pupil or dangling fibres.

Now that it didn’t have to grip the orb, Righty could move a lot faster. I spied an open door and Righty scrambled inside just as the elevator dinged to announce its arrival.

Shifting my consciousness for a short while, I moved my body away from the door and turned as a number of soldiers sprinted down the hallway. Crossing my arms over my chest, I hid the evidence of what I’d done from them. All they’d be able to see was the smashed window, my unnatural blood smeared all over the plastic shards and my back. The imp stood beside me, facing the door.

“Cover me while I take a look inside,” one of the American soldiers said to the others.

“Ok, but remember not to look into its eyes,” another soldier warned him. “Not unless you want to become its unholy slave.” I rolled my remaining eye at being referred to as an ‘it’.

The first soldier shuffled forward to peek inside my cell. He quickly moved away again then spoke into his radio. “The creature is still in its cell, Colonel. One of the black unknown entities is also there. The window in the door is broken and blood indicates that the vampire tried to escape but it wasn’t able to fit through the opening, sir.”

I heard the Colonel’s reply clearly. “What are they doing right now?”

“Both are just standing there. The vampire has its back to us, sir. The unknown entity appears to be watching the door.” He controlled it well but fear came off the soldier in waves. I could smell his and his colleague’s terror sweat from across the small room.

Sanderson heaved a tired sigh after thinking through the problem. “Two of you remain behind and watch the door. If the vampire tries to escape again, shoot it in the head. Bullets won’t kill it but at least they knock it down for a few hours. Alert me if the unknown entity does anything…strange.” Its mere existence was strange so I understood his inability to be more specific than that.

“Yes, sir.” The soldier signed off then chose one of the men to stay behind and keep watch with him. The rest trooped back to the elevator and presumably to their posts.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Sending my consciousness back to Righty and my eyeball, I studied the room they’d scurried into. Being so low to the ground, everything looked gigantic. A metal table sat in the middle of the room with four metal chairs neatly tucked under it. An elderly refrigerator sat to the left of a stainless steel sink. A long counter was to the right of the sink. Plain white cupboards ran from beneath the sink right along the counter.

Seeing nothing useful in the lunchroom, I turned my eye back to the door. Being able to hear the pair of soldiers wasn’t enough, I also needed to see them if I wanted to formulate an escape plan. I’d prefer to use my own eye rather than rely on what the imp saw. We may not interpret what we saw the same way.

Creeping slowly and carefully, Righty carried my orb over to the doorway. It moved forward just enough for me to peer around the corner. The soldiers kept their attention on my cell door, barely taking their eyes from it. Neither wore a helmet. They’d probably been in too much of a rush to stop me from escaping to outfit themselves completely. No helmets meant no cameras, which meant I might just have a shot at getting out of here.

They might be helmetless but both held machine guns ready to cut me in half, or to explode my head again as per the Colonel’s order. I’d never be able to coax them close enough to the door to bedazzle them both at the same time. The imp at my side frightened them too much for either of them to want to come any closer.

An idea tickled the back of my brain then burst into life. What if I took my eye to the guards instead? I had no idea if I could hypnotize them with a detached eye or not but it was worth a try. If my plan didn’t work, I’d have to kill them both. It would be regrettable but I couldn’t stay locked in the cell until Sanderson finally decided what to do with me.

Swivelling my orb down to look at my fingers, I noted just how much they stood out against the white floor. They were pale but still had more colour than the stark white paint. I wouldn’t be able to sneak Righty down the long hallway to the pair of men without being discovered. I need some kind of camouflage.

Maybe I’d find something useful up on the bench. Getting up there would be a challenge. Studying the counter, I saw that my best bet was to use a tea towel hanging from a hook on the far right. With my orb clinging to my fingers with the optic fibres, I moved closer until the hand was directly beneath the towel.

Hoping my eye wouldn’t come loose, I flattened the fingers down. Springing upwards, Righty grabbed the bottom of the stained, once yellow and now brownish tea towel. Taking a firm grip, it began to swing from side to side. When the arc was at its highest, Righty launched itself at the counter. Landing on the edge, it immediately began to slide backwards. The surface was much slicker than I’d expected.

A heavy wooden cutting board sitting only a couple of inches away was my only hope at keeping the appendage up there. I quickly rolled the eye down my fingers to the pure white bench top. Keeping hold of my middle finger with the dangly optic nerves, it rolled over to the board and around the corner. It wedged itself firmly against the rough wood just as Righty slipped over the edge. Halting in mid-fall, suspended by my overstretched optic nerves, my fingers clutched the edge of the bench and blindly hauled itself up to safety.

Back on solid ground, Righty scampered over to my eye. Once it was in place again, the orb took in the white expanse of the bench. A few plain black canisters were lined up neatly against the wall. Righty moved closer so I could read the Russian words printed on each container. When I saw one titled ‘Powdered Milk’, my mouth smiled craftily down the hallway.

A short time later, I had the lid of the container open and was balanced on the edge, inspecting the contents. The canister was nearly full of fine off-white granules. Dropping back down to the bench again, Righty waited for my eye to roll to safety before moving to the sink. It turned the cold water tap on just enough to let out a slow trickle of water that couldn’t be heard down the hall. When it was soaked, it turned the tap off again. It moved over to the canister of powdered milk then sprang into the air, aiming for the opening above. A puff of white powder exploded from the container as Righty landed with a small plop. The powder settled almost invisibly on the bench. Righty rolled around in the stuff until it was completely coated then scrambled out. I didn’t bother to put the lid back on the canister. I doubted either of the guards was going to stroll down the hall for a cup of coffee.

Inspecting Righty, I deemed it to be far less conspicuous now. My eye wrapped its dangling fibres around my fingers again but this time it hid behind them, cupped protectively in the palm rather than sitting on top. The enlarged pupil would stand out far too much against the white floor. Dropping to the ground, Righty kept low and stopped in the doorway. I peeked out and saw both men still watching my door.

I’m going to try to hypnotize one of the soldiers, I thought at the imp, warning him that something strange might be about to happen.

Turning its head to me, I sensed its puzzlement. “How are you going to do that with your back turned to the meat sacks?”

Meat sacks? Is that how imps see humans? Even vampires weren’t that callous towards the beings that we’d once been. Well, some of them weren’t. I’m going to use the eye I popped out before, I explained silently. My hand is sneaking it over to one of the soldiers right now.

“Do you really think that will work?” it asked sceptically.

I have no idea but we’re about to find out.

Righty padded silently down the hallway towards the soldiers. The one closest to it turned his head with a frown and my hand froze. I peeked out between the tiny cracks my fingers made. The nervous soldier searched the hallway, shook his head and returned his attention to my door.

“What’s wrong?” his partner asked. His voice had shifted up a few octaves, indicating he was still terrified despite how calm he was pretending to be.

“Nothing. I thought I saw something but it must have been my imagination.”

“No wonder, considering what we’re guarding. Man, it’s bad enough we’ll be going to war against seven foot monsters but now we have actual vampires to contend with as well.” His tone shifted between being awed and frightened.

“What about that…shadow thing in there? What’s up with that?”

“Are you talking about the one that looks like an unknown entity or the four human looking ones?” the other man said dryly.

“What do you think they’re doing in there?” the second guard asked as Righty began its stealthy approach again.

“I don’t know and I don’t care. All I know is if the vampire moves, its dead.” His voice had deepened again as he masked his fear. They were both putting on a brave front but I was about to shatter it completely.

The second guard shifted uneasily at his choice of words. “If it could survive having its head blown apart, I’m pretty sure we won’t be able to kill it with these.” He indicated his gun and didn’t notice that Righty was now climbing up his leg.

“Did you see the video of it munching down on the Russian soldier?”

Nodding, the second soldier seemed unaware that my hand was creeping up over his shoulder. “I heard the poor bastard is in a psychiatric hospital. He’s being tested to make sure he isn’t still under its spell.”

Speaking of being under my spell, I thought as Righty reached out with one finger and stroked the soldier’s cheek. As he turned to see what had touched him, I split my consciousness. Simultaneously staring into his eye with my detached orb, I turned my body around to distract the second soldier.

“Oh, Jesus,” the second soldier moaned when he saw my face. “Are you seeing this? Her eye is gone.” He nudged his partner with his elbow but received no response.

It was too late for the other man, my eye had done its job and held the soldier spellbound. A large, goofy smile lit up his face. The second soldier dropped his gaze from the gaping socket where my eye used to be to my crossed wrists. At first he didn’t seem to realize that one of my hands was gone. Then his face went white with shock when he understood what I’d done. Before he could raise his gun and riddle my head with bullets, Righty pounced.

Leaping the short distance between the two men, my hand landed on the soldier’s chest. Screaming, he backed into the wall, slapping at Righty. Dodging the blows, my hand swiftly climbed up to the man’s chin. My eye popped up between my fingers and the soldier opened his mouth to scream. The scream died before it was even born when he focussed on the orb. Helpless to resist, he fell beneath my dark magic.

“I can’t believe that actually worked,” the imp said incredulously.

“Me either,” I murmured. Relieved that my plan had worked so far, I stepped over to the door. “Can either of you unlock this door?” Both men shook their heads, still staring at my eye. “Come over here,” I said to the soldier that Righty was clinging to. He obeyed me with stiff, jerky steps. The soldier stopped right in front of the window and Righty nimbly leaped through the gap. I caught it and replaced first my eye then my hand.

Whole again after twin flashes of pain, I addressed soldier number one. “How can this door be opened?” The door across the hallway didn’t have a lock so I assumed mine didn’t either.

“It can only be opened in the control room on the third floor,” he responded in a drugged yet happy voice. “You are so gorgeous,” he informed me.

“That’s funny, a minute ago you didn’t seem to think so. You were calling me an ‘it’,” I replied sarcastically. He was too deep under my spell to be embarrassed.

“I was afraid of you then but now I can see how perfect you are.” His smile was wide and he swayed on his feet.

“That’s just the hypnotism talking. Once it wears off, you’ll go back to thinking of me as a monster again.” I felt a bit sad about that but didn’t have the time to worry about it. Most humans would think of me that way after seeing me in action on their TVs. “Enough with the small talk. Can either of you sneak up to the third floor and unlock this door?”

He was shaking his head even before I finished asking the question. “There are five other soldiers in there. They’ll stop us before we could set you free.”

“Then how am I going to get out of here?” I was frustrated enough to kick the door. Rust flaked to the ground but it had no effect in helping me to escape.

“We could try using explosives,” the second soldier said.

“Step aside, number one,” I ordered and the first soldier shuffled aside. “Get over here, number two.” The second soldier obeyed until he was standing beside his partner. “Can you get your hands on these explosives?” He nodded in the affirmative. “Off you go then.” As he turned away, I gave him another command. “Act natural but hurry back. Bring enough explosives back to blow two doors open.” He nodded again then jogged out of sight.

“I should report in to the Colonel,” number one said. “He’s expecting regular updates.”

“Ok but the same goes to you; act natural.” I wasn’t about to order either of them to return to their normal jobs. I’d learned that lesson and wasn’t about to repeat the mistake again.

Nodding and smiling happily, the soldier took out his radio and reported in. As far as I could tell, he didn’t tip off Sanderson that anything strange was going on. His voice was brisk and professional as he lied through his teeth that all was well.

Several minutes later, soldier number two returned. He immediately moved to the door and started fixing something to it. “I need you to blow the door to the other vampire’s cell at the same time as you blow mine,” I said to him through the busted window. Breaking out was going to be noisy and I wanted to move fast. Without a word, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bundle and handed it to his partner.

Number one disappeared down the hallway and started tinkering with his bomb. Number two finished up then turned to watch his partner. “Ready?” he asked after a few agonizingly slow minutes had passed.

“Ready,” came from down the hallway.

“You should step back from the door, ma’am.” With that suggestion, number two moved out of my sight. I backed away until I hit the wall. Turning my back to the blast area, I covered my ears in anticipation of a horrendous noise. The imp stayed where it was in the middle of the room. Being ghostlike, it didn’t need to worry about flying debris.

Seconds later, the bombs went off simultaneously. I was surprised when there were only four loud pops instead of the massive roar I’d expected. The door shuddered but wasn’t blasted open. Waving away smoke, dust, rust and paint, I gave the door a shove. Tottering, it fell against the opposite door then slid to the ground with a resounding clang.

Further down the hall, soldier number one was vainly tugging at the door to the insensate vampire’s room. I jogged down the corridor, brushed him aside then lifted the door out of its frame. The hinges had been blasted apart, which was a simple and effective way to free myself and my kinsman. “Good job, guys.” Both men beamed at the compliment.

Inside the cell, my fellow vampire was literally dead to the world. He lay on his back on the floor, not deigning to use the cot. From the black suit and blood red cummerbund he wore, I surmised that he was one of the French courtiers. He must have been separated from the Court somehow before being nabbed by the soldiers.

Like most of the courtiers, he was probably attractive while animated. While unanimated, he was nothing more than a slack jawed, pale, unmoving corpse. His shadow was also dead to the world. It appeared to be normal even to my eyes instead of the large, misshapen creatures I was used to seeing. Once it woke, maybe then it would turn back into a hulking mass again.

That slack jawed corpse is my only ticket to the cavern of doom now, I thought. It was a pity my plan to join forces with the soldiers hadn’t worked out. Now I’d have follow the vamp to the First’s lair, battle thousands of imps solo and try to fight my way through to the First then kill him singlehandedly. I’m sure it will be a piece of cake. I tried to make the thought cheerful but it sounded sarcastic even inside my head.

Catching the thought, the imp beside me snorted in agreement. “Don’t get your hopes too high,” it warned me. “Once you stand before him, you will not be able to resist the First’s power. He will not fail to turn you into one of us.” I heard the satisfaction in its tone and could have cheerfully used my holy marks to explode its head.

Chapter Twenty-Six

According to both my watch and my internal clock, I had about an hour left before the sun went down. If I wanted to set the possessed vamp free, I had to move quickly.

Bending down, I used the insensate courtier’s jacket to wipe most of the powdered milk off Righty. It was already filthy so I doubted he’d mind. With my preternatural strength, it was easy to scoop him up and toss him over my shoulder. Being a lot taller than me, his arms hung almost to the ground and his head rested against my butt. If he woke up, one of us was going to be very embarrassed and I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be him.

“Get me out of here quickly and without being seen, if possible,” I ordered my slaves. “If we run into anyone, shoot to incapacitate, not to kill.” They nodded in unison then jogged towards the elevator. The vamp over my shoulder jiggled as I jogged. His head repeatedly bounced off my backside, making me feel like a drum and I started giggling. The imp running beside me cut me a look and I laughed harder.

My laughter cut off when the elevator door opened on the first floor and we were faced with twenty soldiers pointing their guns at us. I belatedly realized that we would have been seen breaking the insensate vampire free. Every cell would have cameras installed, not just mine.

Moving in tandem, my slaves raised their guns and prepared to fire. As I’d ordered, they were aiming to maim rather than to kill. “Stop!” I ordered them before they could pull their triggers. There was no point in getting them, or any of the other soldiers killed.

Colonel Sanderson pushed his way to the front of the crowd and studied me. “Exactly where do you think you’re going with our prisoner?”

“Well, I was going to use him to find the First’s lair,” I replied. “But I’m guessing that plan just went out the window.” Scanning the faces before me, not one of them met my eyes. All were either looking at my chest or just over my head.

Resigned to being riddled with bullets again, I gestured to the corpse lying over my shoulder. “Before you disintegrate my head again, you might want to put the rabid vampire back in a cage. The sun will be down soon and he won’t be friendly when he wakes up.” According to what the imp had told me, I was pretty sure he’d start pulling off limbs and use them as clubs if he woke to find himself surrounded by meat sacks. The imp chuckled at my mental usage of its words.

Without meeting my eyes, the Colonel examined me closely, thinking over my words. “Are you telling me you believe this creature will be able to lead you to where the unknown entities are hiding?”

“I don’t just believe he will, I know he will.”

Sanderson thought some more then turned to one of his men. “Grab a camera and tracking device.” The soldier ran off and the Colonel gestured to me. “Would you kindly put the creature on the floor?”

I didn’t bother to place the vamp down gently but merely flipped him off my shoulder. He landed on his back with a thud, mouth open and fangs showing. Several soldiers gave disturbed murmurs and shuffled back a bit. Several more checked their watches, seeing how close sunset was now. Even without my swords, I wasn’t worried about my personal safety. After all, I had my holy marks to protect me. I could never really be unarmed when it came to vampires and imps. Unless my hands were removed, then I might be in trouble.

After a short wait, the soldier returned and knelt beside the prone courtier. He efficiently attached a tiny camera to the lapel of the vamp’s black suit then slipped a small black device into his pocket.

I snuck a look at my watch and nearly had my head blown off for the second time. “Easy, men,” soothed their boss. “Biggs and Rogers,” he gestured to two of his men. “Take the creature outside and make sure no one tries to shoot it when it wakes up.”

“I’d be careful about where you put him,” I advised. “He’ll burst into flames if you take him out into the sun.” A moist pile of sludge wouldn’t be much help to us in locating the cavern of doom.

“Sir,” Biggs addressed Sanderson. “One of the exits leads to an alley in the back. It should be heavily shaded at this time of the day.”

Nodding in agreement, the Colonel waved them into action. Moving with alacrity, the pair grabbed the vamp underneath his arms and dragged him down the hall. His feet bumped along behind him with the soles screeching lightly in protest.

“Now,” the American soldier said when the pair was gone. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Well, it would be nice if you wouldn’t order your men to shoot me again.” Someone sniggered at my semi-sarcastic reply. The Colonel whipped his head around to see who the culprit was but was faced with blank, controlled expressions.

“You have been quite an inconvenience for me and my men,” he said when he turned back to me. “I have a total of eleven soldiers currently unfit for duty.” He pointed at the two most recent additions to my cadre of slaves. The pair watched me with dopy smiles on their faces.

I grimaced and shrugged. “Sorry about that. It’ll wear off soon.”

“I am curious why you haven’t killed any of my soldiers.” He seemed puzzled and he also forgot what I was and met my eyes. I didn’t want his men to think I was trying to bamboozle their boss so focussed on his forehead.

“You’re going to need every man and woman you can muster to face the First and his minions. I don’t see any sense in killing any of them unnecessarily.” My tone was grim and utterly believable. Maybe I was getting better at convincing people because he held off on ordering his men to open fire on me.

Sanderson’s radio came to life as one of his men reported in. Pulling the radio free from his belt, the Colonel acknowledged the man. “Go ahead, soldier.”

“Sir,” Biggs responded, “the creature has woken and is on the move.”

“Roger that. Return to the war room. Out.” Colonel Sanderson flicked a glance at me, remembering to lower his eyes this time. “Why do you think your friend will lead us to this leader you speak about?”

“That’s a long story. The short version is that the vamp has been called by his master. He is being controlled by his shadow and doesn’t have any choice but to head directly for the cavern of doom.”

Giving the imp shadow standing beside me a long, hard look, Sanderson reached a decision. I believe it was desperation more than anything that helped him to reach it. “You mentioned that you wanted to become my ally. I’m willing to discuss this possibility with you now.” I tried to hide my utter amazement but didn’t quite pull it off. The Colonel had one more thing to say before he gestured for me to follow him. “I am not a coward…ma’am.”

At least I’ve progressed up from being an ‘it’. Who knew my offhand taunt would have had such an impact on him? It just went to show how fragile men’s egos really were. I bit my lips to keep in the laugh that wanted to escape. I recognized the urge to laugh to be relief related rather than from actual amusement. Maybe Kokoro’s prophecy was correct and I wouldn’t have to do this alone after all. I had been promised an army and the Colonel and his men were my only option.

Sanderson led the way up a flight of stairs to the second floor. Five soldiers guarded his back, walking backwards with their guns trained on me. The rest followed me, also with their guns held ready to cut me to pieces. The Colonel entered a doorway and I waited for half of the guards to enter.

One of the men waved me inside. The imp went first then I entered what used to be a meeting room that had been converted into a command centre. Several Russian soldiers and civilians stood when I appeared. They’d been seated around a large oval table. All of the soldiers wore numerous medals. The civilians wore expensive suits. None of them were female. A single white-coated technician sat to the side. An expensive looking computer sat on his tiny desk.

“Gentlemen,” Sanderson said from the head of the table, “this is Natalie. She is the…vampire who was captured on film by our soldiers.” He was reluctant to give me such an unbelievable title but managed to spit it out. They’d been told not to look into my eyes but couldn’t help but flick nervous glances at my face anyway. “She wishes to forge an alliance with us against the unknown entities that are attacking your country.”

“That creature is an abomination! It would be like making a deal with Satan!” one of the Russian soldiers spat in his native language.

“If you think I’m an abomination, what do you call the imps?” was my dry response.

Sanderson looked thunderstruck. “You speak Russian?”

“No but I understand it perfectly.” They all wore confused expressions and I managed not to roll my eyes at their lack of understanding. “Look, I am not your average vampire. As you might have noticed, I tend to regenerate when my body parts are blown off. I can stay awake during the day, holy stuff doesn’t bother me and I can understand every language on and off the planet.” I’d only actually heard one alien language so far but I assumed I’d be able to understand them all.

My explanation didn’t help much and they looked even more flabbergasted now. “The bottom line is; the sole reason I exist is to take down the ‘unknown entities’ and their leader. You need me and I could really use your help,” I explained.

Giving the men a significant look that urged them to at least give me a chance, Sanderson gestured towards a chair. “Please take a seat. We were just about to see where your friend is.”

I didn’t bother to deny that the vamp was my friend. You couldn’t argue with people who had already made up their minds. I sat in the oversized black leather chair and scooted forward so I could put my feet on the floor. I was a lot shorter than most of the men in this room and the chairs weren’t exactly meant for someone my size. My imp companion hulked just behind me. He inadvertently shielded me from the view of some of the soldiers who had their guns trained on me. They moved around to the sides until they had me back under visual surveillance.

A gigantic TV had recently been attached to a wall. I could tell it was a new addition due to the traces of gunk on the carpet that had come out of the walls after holes had been drilled.

Typing rapidly on the computer, the technician worked his magic and the TV came to life. At first it was difficult to understand what I was seeing. I wasn’t used to viewing footage that was being shown in night vision. Then I understood that the vamp was sprinting through dark countryside, presumably arrowing towards the cavern of doom.

He leaped over most obstacles in his path and dodged around anything too large to leap over. The screen suddenly split as the technician typed another command. On the left was the running vamp and on the right was a map of Russia.

With a few more keystrokes, the map zoomed in on the red dot blinking on the screen. As I’d suspected, the vamp was heading directly for the dark blob that Igor had identified as being a mountain. Our freed captive was already a quarter of the way there. It was dizzying watching the picture of ground, trees, fences and the occasional house flashing by. Soldiers crowded closer to the table to view the screen. Some forgot that they were supposed to be watching me and made stunned noises at the speed the vamp was moving at.

He might be fast but the possessed vamp was nowhere near as graceful as he would have been if he hadn’t been a puppet. Stumbling, losing his balance constantly, he was running almost too fast to stay on his feet. Only I and my imp shadow could see his silhouette riding him and leading him to its goal. I shivered at the thought that my friends and I would also be reduced to being puppets if I didn’t put an end to the First soon.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Once his fascination at watching the vamp fleeing through the darkness had lessened, Sanderson turned to me. “Would you mind explaining what you know about these…imps and this leader that you mentioned?”

Sitting back in the too big chair, my feet dangled above the ground. I wondered how much of my story they would believe if I told them everything I knew. It probably wouldn’t be wise to tell them about our history but I couldn’t see any way to avoid it. They wouldn’t cooperate with me unless I spilled what I knew. “I won’t blame you if you’re sceptical about who and what I and my friends are,” I began. “I’ve only been one of the nocturnal for six months or so and it’s all still pretty new to me.”

Colonel Sanderson opened his mouth to voice some of the questions burning inside him then closed it again. We both knew we were running out of time. Stopping the imps was more important to both of us than satisfying his curiosity. “Please continue,” he said with admirable restraint.

“Ok.” I thought of the briefest explanation I could think of then voiced it. “According to our history, we were created by an alien that crash landed on Earth millions of years ago.” Sanderson wasn’t the only one to gape at me at that news. I’d seen ancient books and wall carvings depicting our beginnings and I could barely believe the story myself.

“Are you talking about little green men from outer space?” one of the Russian civilians asked. His silver suit matched his immaculate hair perfectly. Something told me he and Gregor would have gotten along well if Gregor hadn’t been one of the undead.

“More like really tall grey men from outer space,” I corrected him. “The alien had to wait until humans had evolved to the point where we were smart enough for him to use before he made his move. He was slowly dying and was running out of time. Fifty thousand years ago, he made his choice. He fed his blood to a human who became the first vampire. The alien died then the First went on to create a race of vampires. Over time, the alien’s blood began to change the First. It took thousands of years but he eventually turned into a grey skinned monster just like the thing that had created him. The imps that are raiding your towns are his offspring.”

I really didn’t want to tell them the last part but they needed to know what they were up against. “The First has two ways of adding to his army. He has the ability to rapidly change humans into vampires and then into imps within a matter of days.” I very nearly cringed at how unbelievable the story sounded when spoken out loud.

Incredulous glances were exchanged around the other end of the table. The Colonel shook his head in bewilderment. “How many of these creatures can we expect to face?”

I shrugged to indicate that I wasn’t sure. “At the rate they breed, there are probably thousands of them by now. Soon, there will be tens of thousands.” And after that there would be hundreds of thousands and then millions until the entire planet was overrun.

“What do you mean, at the rate they breed?” a Russian soldier with a swathe of medals on his uniformed chest demanded.

“That’s the second way the First increases his numbers. Once vampires ascend to their imp form, they become alive again and can be impregnated. Their gestation period is extremely short. From what I’ve seen so far, they can produce a baby in about nine or ten days.”

The colour drained out of most of the men’s faces. Colonel Sanderson’s mouth twisted in grim astonishment. “In the footage the helicopter took of you, it showed you killing multiple imps with some type of explosive device. What exactly did you use?”

Everyone had seen the footage and knew what he was talking about. “It wasn’t any kind of explosive device,” I hedged. When I saw they weren’t going to let it go, I surrendered to the inevitable. They already knew I was strange, why not show them all just how big a freak I really was? “It has something to do with these crosses.” I held up my hands to show them my holy marks. “Thanks to these, I am very deadly to both vampires and imps.”

My holy marks received curious and disturbed stares. At least none of the men ran screaming like vampires would have at the sight of them.

“How many vampires exist worldwide?” a curious Russian asked.

“I have no idea.”

“You must have some idea,” the Russian said sceptically.

“Look,” I eyed them all as firmly as I could without actually meeting their eyes, “the uninfected vampire’s aren’t your problem. We’ve been living amongst you for fifty thousand years and you didn’t even know for sure that we even existed.” Until I’d given us away that was. “We rarely kill humans and spend most of our time squabbling amongst ourselves.” If any of these men ever saw the cages in the catacombs beneath the Court mansion, they’d know how big a lie I’d just told them. “Forget about us,” I advised them. “We’re not the ones you need to worry about right now.”

After a brief internal struggle, the American nodded. “She’s right. We have to focus on the immediate threat.” Unspoken went the promise that they would worry about how to deal with me and my kind later.

We went back to watching the split screens. As I’d told Sanderson, the First’s compulsion drew the possessed vamp to him like a newborn turtle to the sea. Surrounded by soldiers, I was beginning to feel claustrophobic. Even the imp had moved closer. Its dark form was standing right beside me.

Turning my head to ask it to give me some room, I instead came face to chest with one of my other shadows. “Holy shit!” Standing up, I spun around rapidly. All four of my shadows fell to the floor at my feet, mingling together so they almost looked like a single figure. They were acting innocent again but I wasn’t fooled. One of them had given itself away big time and now I knew for certain that they were sentient. My dreams had warned me this was going to happen but I’d desperately ignored them in the hope that I might be wrong for once. Did you see that? I mentally asked the imp.

“I saw it,” it replied darkly. The hulking shadow stared at the four smaller ones suspiciously.

“What’s wrong?” Sanderson barked, also standing and looking around. He had drawn his gun, not knowing it would be of no use at all.

“Nothing. I just thought I saw something,” was my lame response. After that, the soldiers backed away a few feet and I had plenty of room at the table. From the corner of my eye, I watched my silhouettes. All mimicked me perfectly. After a while I began to wonder if I’d imagined the whole thing. I’m under a lot of strain right now. It might just have been my imagination. My subconscious was strangely silent, neither confirming nor denying my theory. The imp remained vigilant, keeping an eye on them all.

I focussed on the screen again, trying not to jump whenever I caught any movement out of the corners of my eyes. Our spy ran straight towards the range of mountains that I assumed the First was hiding beneath. Reaching the base of the mountain, the vamp slowed down to a jog and began searching for an opening. Finding what he was looking for, the vamp disappeared into a barely discernible crack in the rocks and entered a narrow tunnel.

“How can he see where he’s going?” someone muttered. The tunnel was completely lightless.

“We have excellent night vision,” I replied almost absently.

“You can see in the dark?” an American soldier asked me incredulously.

“Yep.” It was one of the more minor talents that all vampires shared. If the soldiers knew everything that I could do, they’d most likely pull out their guns and start shooting again.

It was a long journey beneath the earth through a winding, steeply descending passage. Without the night vision capability of the camera, the picture being projected onto the gigantic screen would have been extremely boring. Even now, faced with the prospect of catching my first actual glimpse of the cavern of doom, my attention span was short. I felt like fidgeting long before light bloomed at last.

The technician adjusted something and the picture changed back to colour. Just like in my dream, the First’s lair was in a massive cavern. The cages filled with captive humans sat off to the left. I discovered the camera was also equipped with sound when the technician flicked another switch and we suddenly began to hear moans and pitiful cries.

Our unknowing infiltrator jogged past the endless cages of food. I caught a brief sight of the Comtesse and her dwindling band of courtiers huddled together near the bonfires. Bedraggled and dazed, the blonde hag cowered away from the things that she would soon become. Her shadow had subsided enough so that she was aware of her surroundings again. I didn’t know why the First hadn’t transformed her into one of his brides yet. Secretly, I was glad to see her in torment. The sight almost warmed my cold, un-beating heart.

Reaching a wall of grey imps, our spy pushed his way through the milling mass. He joined a group of other shadow possessed vampires. They were lined up before their leader, waiting expectantly.

Clad in a tattered loincloth, the First sat on his bone throne. Surveying his throng, he noted the newest addition to his followers. As if he’d been waiting for our spy to arrive, he stood. Mutters of disgusted astonishment swept around the room behind me. Colonel Sanderson stiffened in shock at the sight of the eight foot, red eyed monster. Thanks to my visions, I was already familiar with just how hideous the First was.

This time, the First didn’t waste time on an inspirational speech. He simply raised his clawed hands and shouted out a word. The imp shadow and I were the only ones in the room who understood his command. “Rise!” he bellowed and the vamps were instantly transformed.

Hulking shadows were sucked deep inside, never to be seen again. In a wash of black blood, flesh and goo, a new army of imps exploded from the bodies of the possessed vampires.

Our spy’s clothing was torn asunder during the transformation and the camera dropped to the ground. We had a few seconds to see the monsters admiring each other’s naked, slime ridden bodies before a grey foot stomped down on the camera. Then the screen went dark and the sound cut off.

Shaken, the soldiers were too rattled to say anything at first. Then the Colonel rallied himself. “How many of these creatures do you estimate are in the cavern?” he asked the technician.

Scratching his head, the white coated man bent over his computer. Rewinding the footage, he finally came up with a number. “It is impossible to say for sure as the footage was quite dark but I estimate there are as many as twenty thousand of the creatures inside.”

Twenty thousand? I was aghast at the number even though I had half expected it to be high. I’d known they were breeding fast. At this rate they would overwhelm us sooner than I’d anticipated. “We have to get in there and take down the First,” I said to Sanderson. I’d seen a disturbing number of bulging stomachs as our spy had moved through the crowd. Another generation of imps was already close to being born.

“I have a plan but it will be very dangerous for you,” the Colonel said.

“Don’t worry about me, I’m pretty resilient.” That’s a massive understatement. There had never been anything as resilient as me before. Except cockroaches. They’d still survive long after I was finally annihilated.

“We know that bullets take them down, if we use enough of them. I was thinking explosives might be even better,” Sanderson explained.

I waved away his concern that I could very well be blown to smithereens. “What about the civilians that have been captured?” I could read the answer in his regretful expression even before he answered me.

“I am afraid they will be collateral damage.” His tone reflected that he really was regretful that they would have to die.

“You’re willing to sacrifice a few thousand humans to save several billion?” Sanderson nodded and I thought of the little girl in my dream. I’d promised her that I would get her out but that was looking less and less likely now. Sure, it had just been a dream and she would never know that I’d made her a promise. I still didn’t want to give up on the captives without even trying to get them out. “What if I create a distraction to give you enough time to free the food? I mean humans.” It was a small slip that I corrected quickly but several disturbed glances were sent my way. They didn’t need any reminders of my true nature.

“What kind of distraction do you have in mind?” Sanderson asked.

I hadn’t really had time to come up with a plan since I’d just thought of the idea a few seconds ago. “I don’t know yet but I’m sure I’ll come up with something.”

“It’ll take us two hours to reach the cavern,” he said. “Will that be long enough?”

I gaped at him in horror. “Are you crazy? You can’t attack them at night!” The fact that he was even contemplating the idea showed just how little the soldiers knew about the imps.

“Why not?” one of the Russian officials asked.

“Because they’re much more dangerous when the sun is down. The imps might not be vampires anymore but they’re still nocturnal. Most of them will either be asleep or at least slower through the day.” I hadn’t seen any evidence so far that the imps needed to sleep but I was hoping they did. If not, then we might have a harder time taking them down than I’d hoped.

Thinking hard, the Colonel finally decided I was probably right. “In that case, we’ll leave two and a half hours before dawn. That’ll give us enough time to move into position.” The soldiers in the room immediately huddled together to discuss strategy and weaponry. Drawing me aside, Sanderson spoke in a low voice. “That gives you a few hours to come up with a plan. Whatever it is, I hope it’s good.”

During the next couple of hours, I paced up and down the room, trying to ignore the madly planning men. Finally, I decided I needed to get away from the distraction. “I’m going somewhere quieter,” I said to a Russian soldier who was guarding the door. He flicked an enquiring look at his superior, who looked at Sanderson. The American nodded and I was given permission to leave.

Taking the stairs down to the ground floor, the stealthy footsteps of a pair of soldiers followed me. They stayed out of sight but not out of sound. Pacing up and down an empty corridor, I was distracted by the quiet conversation coming from the pair. “Will you two go away?” I called out. They immediately stilled but I could still hear them because it was impossible for humans to really be still.

“Do you really think she knows we’re here?” one of the guards whispered to the other.

“Yes, I really know you’re there,” I shouted. “I can hear you breathing and…twitching. Go away so I can think!”

After a few moments of shuffling, they retreated back up a floor. The stairwell door was eased shut then I heard the snick of the lock being thrown. If it comforted them to think a flimsy door might actually be able to contain me, then I wasn’t about to burst their bubble.

Alone at last, except for the imp and four other shadows that were perpetually attached to me, I entered an empty office and sat down on a chair. The wheels squeaked in protest then quieted when I became motionless. I needed to come up with a plan that would give the soldiers enough time to evacuate thousands of humans and had little time in which to think of something. Since planning and deep thinking wasn’t my strong suit, this was going to be tough.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

During the next hour, my mind remained distressingly blank. Previously, the only planning I’d ever done was to decide how I was going to arrange the dummies in my store windows. There was a lot of pressure on my scrawny shoulders and I wasn’t entirely sure they could take the strain.

“Ok,” I said to myself at last. “Pretend that you’re a fifty thousand year old, eight foot tall monster who eats humans. What are you afraid of?”

At first, I couldn’t think of anything. Then a memory tickled the back of my mind and a picture of a red mask floated to the surface. For reasons that I couldn’t define, the First had been disturbed when he’d torn off my black mask and saw a red one beneath it in one of my visions. How would he react when he saw me in my full red leather suit? Kokoro had suggested to Ishida that he should gift me with the suit. Maybe something had sent the idea to the prophet. Maybe that something was working through her in my favour.

Catching movement out of the corner of my eye, I whipped my head around and caught one of my shadows scratching its nose. Seeing me seeing it, the thing froze. “I knew it!” I hissed. Surging to my feet, I whirled around but my shadows moved too quickly for me to focus on them and point out their errors. No matter which direction I turned, they slipped behind me. Sadly, they were still trying to act as if they weren’t sentient.

“Why are they still pretending?” the imp asked me. “We all know that they have ascended.”

Going stock still, I waited for a minute then turned in a slow circle. The shadows moved in a stealthy circle as well, always remaining behind me. “The jig is up, guys. You’re supposed to be in front of me right now,” I said and pointed up at the light. One of the shadows looked up, following my finger. “I saw that!” I cried. The culprit received a smack in the head from one of its clones.

Finally giving up on its pretence, one of my silhouettes slid up from the floor to the wall. The other three followed suit until they were standing side by side like a prison line up. All we needed was the victim of a crime to point out which shadow was the perpetrator. Identical in aspect, I had no idea which one was my original shadow.

“You must submit to the inevitable, Mortis,” the first shadow to stand up said in my head suddenly. It was weird to hear my own voice speaking in an alien language.

“One of us will possess you,” said another.

“It is your destiny to first become a child of the First and then one of his brides,” a third pointed out.

Scratching its head, the fourth shadow jumped when it was elbowed in the side. “Yeah, what they said,” it said belatedly.

Nodding thoughtfully, I rubbed my chin. The fourth shadow automatically copied me then cringed away when one of the others took a swipe at it. “How are you going to decide who gets to possess me?” I asked them. As I thought, they hadn’t planned their takeover yet.

“We will decide who gets to inhabit your body once we have disposed of that.” I followed the inky finger the silhouette pointed with to see the final imp hiding behind me.

“You mean you guys are responsible for the missing imps?” I was appalled at the idea that they’d managed to pull this off without my knowledge. Either they were incredibly stealthy and clever or I hadn’t been paying anywhere near enough attention to my surroundings.

“Did you really think we’d let one of them take control of you?” another of my shadows sneered. “They are interlopers and must be destroyed.”

Sensing their intentions, the imp attempted to run. Unfortunately, it forgot that we were attached by the feet. Tripping, it sprawled on its face and the other shadows attacked. Moving back out of the way, I tried to follow what was happening but they merged together into a mass of heaving blackness.

Finally, they pinned the imp down. One of the shadows wrapped itself around the imp’s head, silencing its frantic screams. Two others held it still as the fourth oozed down towards my feet and grabbed the imp by the ankles. It tore the foreign shadow free and the imp instantly winked out of existence. One second it was there and the next it was gone.

Shaken by the display, at least I now had an answer to what had happened to the other imp silhouettes. I couldn’t say I was sorry to see them go but I was highly disturbed that I had a group of assassin shadows to battle now.

“Ok, you got rid of the competition, what now?” I asked them. “Are you going to flip a coin to see who gets me?”

Shuffling its feet silently, the first shadow scratched its head while the second one cut suspicious glares at the other three. It was the third shadow that reached a decision. Balling up a fist, it punched the second shadow in the face. Three of my shadows instantly became a furious clawing, biting whirlwind. No other human or vampire would have been able to hear them cursing each other in our father’s alien language. I wished I couldn’t hear them myself. I was amazed that beings that had come from me knew such foul language.

Stepping back further to keep out of their way, I watched in fascination as two of the shadows ganged up on a third. One grabbed it around the waist as the other bent and somehow managed to tear it free from me just like it had with the imp. Wailing in either pain or terror, the shadow immediately lost its shape and began to dissipate. Unlike the imp, this one took longer to fade.

Wisely, shadow number four had scurried off to one side to avoid getting caught up in the fray. The other two silhouettes circled each other, looking for an opening. Knowing my time was running out before I had to face the First, I took matters into my own hands and reached for the closest of my dark clones. It began to shriek as my holy marks settled on either side of its head. Expecting some degree of pain as a consequence of unleashing the dark power, I winced when the shadow became a wispy, insubstantial ghost before disappearing completely. As far as I could tell, killing it in this manner had had no effect on me. The last time I’d unleashed the holy marks on a shadow, the diseased alien blood had oozed out of the vampire host. A dry husk had been all that remained.

Now I was left with only two contenders for my body. The boldest, shadow number one, sized me up. We both ignored the last silhouette. It was busy cringing beneath the desk and didn’t appear to be much of a threat. Moving suddenly, my opponent leaped at me. We fought silently, punching, clawing and slapping at each other.

Clamping its hands on my head, my enemy tried to unleash its shadow version of the holy marks. Pretending to be mortally wounded, I fell to the floor and writhed around with my hands covering my face. It might as well have tried to beat me to death with a feather duster for all the effect it had had.

“Finally, triumph is mine!” the shadow trumpeted inside my head.

“Guess again, stupid,” I said and grabbed the shadow by the feet. With an audible ripping sound that only I and my two remaining shadows would have been able to hear, I stood and tore the thing free from me. Hanging upside down by the ankles, the shadow screamed as it became thinner and thinner before finally melting away.

Turning, I spied shadow number four still huddled beneath the desk, trying to pretend it wasn’t there. “How about you?” I said to it. “Aren’t you going to try to possess me, too?”

“Um, I hadn’t planned on it,” it replied inside my head. “Honestly, I just want to go back to being a normal shadow again. I hate having to anticipate your every move all the time.” It was hard to tell since I couldn’t read its inky expression but it sounded like it was nearly in tears.

“That would be a pain in the butt,” I agreed. “So, what now?”

Slinking out from beneath the desk, my shadow slumped against it. “I dunno. The other three were the brains. I’m just the original.”

Great. My real shadow is dumber than my fake ones. “Pretty soon I’m going to go into the First’s lair,” I reminded it. “We’re going to fight and he’s probably going to win.” We were both glum at the thought. Once I was dead, my clone would cease to exist as well.

“I don’t want to turn into one of those flesh eating monsters,” it replied plaintively. “They smell horrible, they eat with their mouths open and they have no sense of humour.”

“You can smell?” I admit I was surprised by the revelation.

“I can smell, taste and feel anything you do.”

I mulled this over then came to a horrible realization. “So, when Luc and I are…”

Before I could even finish, my shadow was nodding. “Oh yeah. I felt evvvverything. All four of us did, heh heh. That Lord Lucentio is pretty good in the sack.”

It had been mortifying to discover our friends overheard us each time we got physical with each other. This was somehow so much worse. I almost felt like an unknowing star of a porno film. I’d better not tell Luc about this. Then I remembered that he’d been the sexual entertainer of the Court for hundreds of years. The idea of being spied on by my four shadows probably wouldn’t bother him at all.

With far more important things to worry about, I turned my attention back to the present. A plan had just come to me and I smiled. “I have a proposal for you,” I said to my black clone.

“I’m listening,” it replied. After I outlined what was on my mind, the thing gave a laugh that sounded eerie inside my head. At least it spoke English and not an alien language. “It’s a deal! I just hope this works so neither of us ends up dead.” On that note, my shadow and I were in perfect accord.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Heading upstairs, my poor shadow tried its hardest to copy my every move until I took pity on it. “Don’t worry about copying me. No one else can see that you’re…alive.” I wasn’t sure ‘alive’ was the correct word but I didn’t want to offend my new ally.

“Thank G-G-G-G.” I sensed its grimace even if I couldn’t make out its features properly. “I keep forgetting about that.”

“Me, too.” It seemed the silhouettes had more in common with their fleshy counterparts than I’d ever imagined. Neither of us could say the lord’s name out loud.

Reassured that no one would notice its weird antics, my silhouette stood up and allowed me to pull it along. Not only was it not particularly intelligent, it was also lazy. If it had been a real person, we’d probably have been the best of friends.

Knocking on the stairwell door, I heard muffled exclamations of fright from the other side. Unlike the soldiers, I didn’t make a lot of noise when I walked. The door cracked open and one of the guards eyed me carefully. I tapped my watch to indicate we were running out of time and he hurriedly pulled the door open.

Not wanting to scare anyone into putting a bullet in my back and ruin my leather suit, I walked at an almost normal pace towards the exit. “Where are you going?” one of the guards called, jogging to catch up.

“I left some gear in the police headquarters that I’ll need for the cavern of doom,” I said.

“Did she just say ‘cavern of doom’?” the first guard said out of the side of his mouth in Russian.

“She did and I don’t like the sound of it.” If they’d seen the actual footage of the cave, they would have liked it even less. I thought it was an apt description.

Emerging onto a street I didn’t recognize from my earlier reconnaissance of the town, I raised an eyebrow at the two soldiers. “How far away are we from the police HQ?”

“It’s four blocks away,” one of the men answered. That confirmed what the final remaining imp had told me after my head finished regenerating and I’d woken up in the cell.

I could have sprinted there and back quickly enough but didn’t want to risk having my head riddled with bullets again. Reattaching something that had been cut off was easy enough. Repairing one hole in my head took a few seconds but regenerating my entire head had apparently been a bit trickier. Since we didn’t have much time to waste I would have to play it safe. “Let’s go,” I said to them both and they broke into a jog.

“Where are the rest of your shadows?” one of them panted after we’d jogged for half a block.

“They had some other place they had to be,” was my vague reply.

“Are they coming back?” the other soldier asked anxiously.

“I bloody well hope not,” I muttered. I was down to having a single shadow again and it was my fond hope that I wouldn’t collect any more of them. Try to avoid ingesting the blood of vampires or imps from now on, my subconscious suggested wryly.

Both men were breathing harder than normal by the time we reached the squat white police building. I wasn’t breathing at all, of course. They escorted me inside and I made my way up to the second floor to retrieve my backpack.

“I’m going to change my clothes,” I told the pair as I motioned them out of the room. “If either of you open this door, I’ll rip your face off,” I warned them as I closed the door.

“I wouldn’t mind if she ripped my pants off,” one of the soldiers whispered. The other one sniggered.

Changing rapidly, I wormed my way into the red suit for the first time. Just like the black ones, I almost had to be a contortionist to do the laces up at the back. “Let me,” my shadow said and brushed my hands away. It was creepy that my shade was corporeal enough to be able to do up my laces. It pulled them tight enough that it would have cut off my circulation if I’d had any. Not very bright and lazy it might be, but the silhouette was efficient. I only had two more items to add to the suit but I’d wait until we were in position near the cavern before I donned them.

Opening the door, I ignored the dazed expressions on the soldier’s wide eyed faces at the sight of me dressed in neck to toe red leather. Moving over to a window, I checked my reflection. The thick band of metal across my chest and back were contoured to my shape and didn’t stand out as much as I’d thought they would. Skin tight, the suit fit me perfectly and was almost as comfortable as being naked. Considering just how closely it fit, I might as well have been.

With my escorts following close behind me, most likely staring at my butt, I jogged back to the squat grey building where I’d been incarcerated beneath the ground. One of my guides led the way back to the war room where the leaders of the two armies were working out their strategy.

Striding down the hallway, I ignored the heads that turned and mouths that dropped open. There was an instant and deafening silence at my arrival when I stepped into the war room. Colonel Sanderson’s eyes popped open as wide as they could and my shadow giggled. I had to bite down on my bottom lip so I wouldn’t do the same. Men were such visual creatures that they could be rendered brain dead at the sight of a woman’s contours. Mind you, my brain went a bit numb whenever I saw Luc without his clothes so I couldn’t really criticize them.

“Good timing,” the American said when he finally managed to tear his eyes away from my new outfit. “We’ll be leaving in five minutes.” Realizing something was different about me, he frowned. “You seem to have lost some of the shadows that have been trailing behind you. What happened to them?”

I decided to go with the truth this time. “They had a fight to the death over which one was going to possess my meat sack. That one was the victor.” I hiked a thumb over my shoulder.

“Meat sack?” someone muttered.

“My body,” I elaborated, inwardly wincing at using my late imp shadow’s terminology.

Eying my only remaining shadow, Sanderson hesitated before asking his next question. “Has it tried to possess you yet?”

I shook my head. “No. We’ve come to an understanding. It doesn’t want to be turned into an imp and neither do I.”

Everyone in the room was struggling with the idea that my shadow was sentient. They couldn’t see it hugging itself and looking around uneasily. All they saw was a normal shadow doing normal things.

Checking his watch, the Colonel circled a hand in the air. “It’s time for us to move.”

Sanderson and his men knew what I was but I doubted they had thought through the logistics of how to transport me once the sun came up. It seemed prudent to raise the issue. “I’ll need to ride in an enclosed vehicle without any windows in the back. I’ll also need something to cover me with. A blanket will do,” I instructed the Colonel. I’d left the long black coat Luc had stolen for me hanging over the back of a chair. Sighs of disappointment swept the room when I donned it.

“Why do you need these things?” a high ranking Russian asked. Unlike Sanderson, he couldn’t seem to raise his eyes above my legs even after the cloak covered them.

“Because I’m highly allergic to sunlight,” I reminded them. A few of the men chuckled. I didn’t join them because I wasn’t trying to be funny. Being boiled down to a skeleton wasn’t much fun.

A suitable vehicle was located to transport me to the First’s lair. I watched the armoured truck pull up out front of the building and gave the driver a nod of approval. Sanderson appeared and climbed into the back of the truck with me, clutching a small bundle. I wasn’t sure if he was riding with me as a gesture of good faith on his part or if he simply didn’t trust me to be alone with any of his men.

Five more men joined us then the truck went into motion. My shadow shifted sideways with a small huff of annoyance when one of the soldiers sat on its face. It sat by my side, close enough that we brushed up against each other when the truck took off. It was disconcerting to know that only I could see, touch and hear it. If I didn’t know better, I might have thought I was going crazy. I’m pretty sure you passed that milestone a few months ago, my subconscious broke to me ungently.

“Here,” the Colonel handed me a musty old blanket with several holes in it. “This is the best I could come up with on short notice.

Judging the state of it, I nodded my thanks. “It will do.” I poked a finger through one of the holes but it didn’t look like it would tear easily.

“You’ll look just like Vincent when you put that on,” my clone sniggered. I pictured the tall, thin, bald, crazy Romanian vampire and shuddered. He’d had a penchant for wearing long, dark hooded robes and then posing theatrically like a terrible actor in a C grade movie.

You were sentient even back then, I asked it mentally.

“Sort of,” it replied uneasily as if it was afraid I’d react badly to the news. “Right from the first night you woke up as Mortis, I’ve been…aware on some level. Over the last couple of weeks, all four of us woke up fully. We were biding our time, waiting for the right moment to try to take you over. Well, the others were anyway. I was just going along and pretending to be one of them.”

I had the feeling my original shadow had felt like an outcast amongst the others. Sadly, I knew exactly how it felt. I mulled this knowledge over silently, quietly freaked out that my original shadow had been alive to some extent this whole time and I hadn’t even known. This meant that I’d been doomed to become one of the damned from the instant I’d become a vampire. They’d been disturbingly clever to hide their sentience from me for so long.

By some weird twist of fate, my shadow didn’t particularly want to possess me. If it had and I’d won a battle for supremacy, would I have ended up completely shadowless? What would have happened if I’d been forced to wrench my original shadow free?

Casting a sidelong look at it, I studied it without its knowledge. Glumly staring at the Colonel, my clone didn’t seem to be harbouring any thoughts of mutiny. In the back of my mind I wondered if it was just putting on a clever act while secretly planning on turning me into a puppet.

I’d find out soon enough when we reached the First’s lair and we put my plan into action. Once that happened, our survival would be in my shadow’s hands.

Chapter Thirty

After the estimated two hour journey, our truck came to a stop along with the rest of the convoy of army vehicles. If the First had any sentries posted near his lair, our plan would be sunk. I was pretty sure he would be too arrogant to bother with lookouts. He thought he was secure in his underground haven and that humans wouldn’t be smart enough to figure out his location. If he’d left his cavern of doom at all in the last century, he would have seen just what kind of weapons and technology our food had invented lately. Maybe then he wouldn’t have been quite so complacent.

Colonel Sanderson gathered his troops together with a few hand gestures. They automatically separated into five groups. Four of the groups were smallish, with about a hundred men each. The fifth group was much larger with over two thousand American and Russian soldiers.

It had apparently been decided that a small group of highly trained soldiers would be more effective than sending in thousands of ill-trained men. Although the cavern was large, the imps would be contained and would have nowhere to run or hide. More troops would be arriving soon just in case our mission went sour. If it did, then they would bomb the mountain and cut down anything that emerged from the ruins. Considering how many humans were reportedly missing, the powers that be had decided to give us a shot at getting them out before resorting to such extreme measures.

Sanderson addressed his men quietly and they strained to hear him. “You have all been briefed on your tasks and are aware of the risks involved.” Heads nodded and lumps in throats were swallowed. The sour stink of fear permeated the entire gathering. “We will give Natalie a five minute head start and she will create a diversion.” He turned to me for confirmation.

“I’ll stall the First for as long as I can to give you time to rescue the humans.” I almost said ‘food’ again but caught myself this time. The men were already nervous enough without me adding to their terror.

“Teams one and two,” the Colonel pointed to two of the groups. “Your job is to break the prisoners free. Do so as silently as possible. If you are detected, set off a flare and we will immediately launch our attack.” Turning to the second two groups, he addressed them next. “Teams three and four, on my signal, you will unleash your weapons on these monsters.” Each one carried a rocket launcher on their backs. They were already loaded and ready to go. Judging by the way they were sweating and shifting uncomfortably, the launchers were heavy.

“Sir, yes, sir!” the American soldiers all responded. I sensed they wanted to roar their response but we were too close to the cavern to make that much noise.

“Team five, you will spread out inside the cavern and fire every weapon you have at your disposal. Do not stop firing until every last one of those ungodly monsters has been sent back to hell where they belong.” The soldiers, a mixture of American and Russian, answered in the affirmative. “Move out!” On the Colonel’s order, we all broke into a jog.

We’d timed our arrival well and reached the cavern entrance only minutes before dawn was about to break. I settled the blanket over my head and tugged it forward so that it covered my face. The sleeves of the coat were long enough to cover my hands when I turned them into fists.

Eyeing me critically, my clone offered its opinion. “All you need is a scythe and you could be the Grim Reaper.” I muffled the laugh that tried to escape me. Tension wound its way up my spine, making me want to hunch my shoulders protectively. I thought the description was rather fitting considering I had been named death.

Sanderson stood from the crouch he’d been in and opened his mouth to issue an order. Hearing multiple heavy footsteps approaching, I hauled him back down again and crouched beside him. “Shh!” I whispered to the group. “I can hear a bunch of imps coming.”

Crouched in tense silence, even the soldiers could hear the approaching group after a minute or so. Grunts, chortles and gurgles of alien language rang out. So did moans, sobs and cries of pain from more humans that had been captured. “Hurry!” an imp shouted to his brethren. “The sun is about to rise!”

They ducked into the crevice and disappeared from view just as the first killing rays of brightness flared to life. My knees would have buckled at the onslaught of intense heat if I’d been standing. Even beneath the cover of the coat and blanket, it was nearly unbearable. My shadow hissed at the brightness and slid beneath the blanket. It flattened itself down until it was only wafer thin and covered me like a second skin.

Hands gripped my arms and I was rushed towards the inviting darkness. Colonel Sanderson himself helped to propel me into the crevice. Staggering deeper inside, I leaned against a wall, wincing away from the light that streamed inside only a few feet away. Smoke rose from the blanket like morning fog rising on a pond.

“Are you alright?” the Colonel asked.

Nodding, I straightened up and shucked off the blanket and coat. They would only slow me down now. “I just needed a second to collect myself. I’m ok now.”

He eyed me dubiously as the first two teams readied themselves. All were kitted out with night vision goggles, assault rifles, pistols, grenades and various other explosive devices. I had two samurai swords and my holy marks. I’d never shot a gun in my life or unlife and would probably blow my own foot off if I tried to use one.

Taking off my backpack, I rummaged around inside and pulled out the last two items that I’d been saving. The heavy metal neckband Emperor Ishida had designed for me would protect me from being beheaded. The fit was a bit snug but breathing wasn’t necessary anymore so it didn’t really matter. The last piece of my suit to be put in place was the red mask. It covered my face from just below my eyes to beneath my chin.

After a surprised double take, the Colonel indicated it was time for me to go. “You have a five minute head start then my men will attempt to free the captives,” he reminded me. “Good luck, Natalie.”

“Roger that, Colonel,” I said and snapped him a salute. I caught his faint smile before I whirled around and took off in a sprint.

I’d watched our infiltrator work his way downwards through the twisting, dark tunnel so knew roughly what to expect. My reflexes had vastly improved after being infected with the blood of four vampires so I avoided crashing into walls. The soldiers thought they were giving me a five minute head start but I knew it would be more like ten or fifteen minutes. It would take them a lot longer than me to work their way down to the cavern of doom.

Slowing down when light bounced off the walls ahead, I very nearly walked into the tail end of the group of imps herding their latest batch of captives. Stepping back into the tunnel, I waited for the group to become small with distance. My clone stood at my shoulder, taking in the vast space in front of us.

Just as my dreams had portrayed, huge bonfires cast flickering light on the rough dirt floor. The walls and ceiling were too distant for the light to reach them completely. Hundreds of cages held the thousands of humans that had been captured to be the imp’s food. Again, just like my dream, they had been stripped of their clothing and of their dignity. They were crammed in together, caked in dirt and stinking of their own waste.

A flash of gold caught my attention. Even from several hundred feet away, I could make out the Comtesse and her remaining retinue of courtiers. Dirty, ragged and wearing the sad remnants of a once beautiful gown, the praying mantis stood beside one of the fires, turning a spit that held a roasting human.

The fact that the remaining vamps were awake during daylight hours meant they were all at least several hundred years old. Apart from the Comtesse, all of the kitchen drudges were being controlled by their shadows. Hers was sulking with its arms crossed, staring at the army of imps jealously. Apparently, it didn’t like being a slave and left the task up to its host.

My satisfaction at seeing the praying mantis reduced to a kitchen maid faded at the sight of the poor roasting human. I could tell by the small size that it was just a child. If I didn’t put an end to the First, more helpless waifs would be spitted, cooked and eaten.

I turned to my clone. “It’s time,” I told it. Shucking off the backpack, I tucked it against the tunnel wall and hoped it would be safe there. It was nearly empty now but it still held one black suit. I would need it if I survived my encounter with the First and his army.

Wringing its hands, it peered into the cavern doubtfully. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Its voice trembled with fear that I secretly shared.

No. “Yes.” God help me. If my plan doesn’t work then it’ll be up to the soldiers to kill the First. I was pretty sure none of them had been fated to face the first vampire to ever be created. If I went down then there was a good chance the entire human race would follow me into death.

My last thought as I left the safety of the tunnel was of Luc. He and our friends depended on me to win this battle. Eventually, their shadows would rise and they would be called to the First as well. Once that happened they would be turned into imp clones and would cease to be themselves. I was their only hope.

Chapter Thirty-One

Stepping into the cavern, I had trouble seeing through my dark clone. It had turned itself into a slump shouldered, hulking shape that no longer resembled my vampire form at all. Peering through a veil of blackness, I shambled along, trying not to trip over rocks.

“Keep up!” the shadow hissed and I hurried forward a couple of steps.

“Slow down a bit. This isn’t a race,” I hissed back. When it dropped its speed, my job of pretending to be possessed became easier.

We skirted around the bonfires, avoiding the Comtesse and her followers. I didn’t want to be discovered before I was ready to face the First. I was working up my courage to do battle with him but I wasn’t quite there yet.

Our path took us alongside the caged humans. Up this close, the smell of human waste, sweat, tears and despair was nearly overwhelming. Against my better judgement, I glanced into a cage as I passed it and spied a familiar little girl. Mirroring my dream, she held her hands up to me, silently begging me to rescue her. Unlike my dream, I didn’t promise her the impossible. If my plan went well, the soldiers would break the captives free. If it didn’t, then she’d die a far quicker and hopefully less painful death than the one the imps had planned for her when the soldiers set off their explosives.

Reaching a wall of grey skinned, seven foot flesh, I started working my way through the crowd. Roughly half of the imps were lying down, deeply asleep and breathing heavily. The rest were still standing but they were far less alert than usual. Most swayed on their feet, blinking slowly and looking even more stupid than usual.

“Get out of my way,” I said loudly and pompously. “Move it! Coming through.” Used to the posturing of possessed vampires, most of the imps merely grunted irritably and shifted to let me through. Some eyed my red mask in puzzlement but none of them thought to stop me.

A disturbing number of the monsters had bulging stomachs. Reminded of how voracious the imp babies were upon birth, I searched for them but the crowd was too thick to see through. Reaching the edge of the mob, we halted.

“Oh, jeez,” my shadow moaned in my head when we both caught sight of the First. “He’s going to rip us both a new arsehole.”

“Do you even have an arsehole?” I asked it curiously.

“Well…no. It’s just a figure of speech.”

“We’ll be fine if we stick to the plan,” I thought at it reassuringly while secretly thinking we were both about to die.

Peering through a narrow gap between two of the immense offspring, I studied the first of our kind. He sat on his bone throne with his chin resting on a fist, staring at his children. As per my last dream of him, instead of being happy that his plan for world domination was finally being executed, he was brooding. His batlike face had shaped itself into a petulant scowl. Long black claws drummed against the arm of his throne.

Many humans had died over the millennia to make the massive throne. The back, made almost entirely of skulls, towered over the king of the imps. Some of the bones were so ancient that they were turning to dust. The First had plenty of recent victims to replenish the throne with but he hadn’t restored it yet. Maybe he was waiting for total victory before he would bother.

At a slight shifting in the crowd, a bulging stomach was suddenly pressing up against my back. The baby imp inside stretched either its arms or legs, poking me in the kidney. A noise of disgust escaped me before I could contain it.

“Silence!” the First bellowed suddenly and an immediate hush fell over the gathering. “I sense someone…familiar.” Red eyes flared in the darkness and turned unerringly in my direction. “Step forward and show yourself!” he commanded.

Here we go, I said silently to my clone. It’s show time.

We shouldered our way through to the front and stood before the First. Brightening at my appearance, he stood and opened his arms as if to embrace me from afar. “So, one of your shadows has won possession of you and the great Mortis is now just a flesh puppet like the rest of my lesser children.” He roared out guttural laughter at the fate that he mistakenly thought had befallen me. The army of monsters behind me copied his laughter like the brainless clones they were. I doubted if most of them even knew what they were laughing about.

As I’d instructed it to, my shadow covered me from view of the eight foot tall creature. Only brief flashes of my red suit showed each time it shifted uneasily to survey either the crowd or their leader.

Regaining control of himself, the First moved to inspect me. Up close, he reeked even worse than his offspring. Rotting meat was stuck in his elongated teeth. Still tacky juices from his last meal had run down his chin and onto his chest. I doubted that his sweat slicked skin had ever seen a washcloth or even knew what one was.

Trudging in a slow circle, he came to a stop in front of me. “It is far past time that you joined my army, vampire. I only wish that some small part of you was still aware of what is about to happen to you.” Lifting his hands dramatically, he issued the order that I’d been dreading since I’d first witnessed the birth of his offspring in my dreams. “I command you to rise!”

Instead of being sucked inside me then bursting back out as a newborn imp, my shadow reached behind me. Almost casually, it pulled one of my swords free then leaned forward and speared it through the First’s chest.

The father of all imps staggered backwards, staring down at the weapon piercing its heart in stupefied disbelief. A gasp of outraged fury came from ten thousand throats. The sleeping imps stirred uneasily but didn’t wake.

“Did you really think,” the First said as he slowly raised his face to view me, “that you could kill me so easily, Mortis?” He pulled my sword free and threw it aside contemptuously.

“No,” I replied honestly. “But I really hoped I could.”

At the First’s withering glare, my frightened shadow shrank back down to normal size and hid behind me. “It was her idea!” it shouted out loud so its master could hear.

“Cowardly traitor,” I muttered.

Now that I was no longer hidden by my shadow, the First saw me clearly and it was his turn to be frightened. He took in the blood-red mask and matching suit and blanched. His face went a sickly shade of grey-white. “Seize her!” he screeched.

Clawed hands reached for me and I didn’t resist them. There would be no point since I was so badly outnumbered. “Bring her to me,” the First commanded. I was marched forward until he was towering over me. I tilted my head back to meet his blazing red eyes.

“It has been prophesized that your holy marks will be the death of me and mine,” the First said. He whirled around and stomped over to his throne. It was even more monstrous up close with dried blood, skin and even hair hanging off some of the fresher skulls.

Reaching around behind the throne, the First brought out a weapon from the shadows. It was the biggest sword I’d ever seen. Pitted with rust, it was incredibly ancient and appeared not to have been sharpened in the last century or two. I grimaced at the thought of the blunt edge being rammed through me.

Grinning evilly, the First narrowed the distance between us again. “How are you going to destroy me if I take your hands from you?” At his nod, two imps grasped my arms and held them out. The First’s brow wrinkled in puzzlement at the empty openings of my sleeves.

“Surprise!” I shouted. Before I could unleash my master plan, the gigantic sword was rushing at my neck. The imp on my left lost her head in a wash of black ooze as the sword passed through her first. Then the weapon clanged against the band on my neck. The vibration of metal on metal made my ears ring and I saw double for a few seconds.

Roaring in rage, the First redirected his aim and this time his sword speared into my chest. The sword bounced off the metal plate and I was sent flying backwards, pulling the second imp with me. Caught by multiple grey hands, I was shoved forward again. This time their leader aimed the sword lower. It cut through the suit and exited from my back. The weapon was so long that it also speared another imp that was standing too close behind me. Gurgling out a scream, the unfortunate imp stumbled back, freeing itself from the sword. It fell to its knees while desperately trying to hold its insides in then thudded onto its face.

I faked a yawn, covering my mouth with my empty sleeve. “Nice try,” I taunted the First. “Stabbing me through the guts isn’t going to kill me. I’m a vampire, not a human.”

Yanking his sword free, the leader of the imp army went into a stabbing, slashing frenzy. Without hands, I could do little to defend myself. I managed to dodge some of the blows, doing my best to give the soldiers time to free the captives. One of my lower legs was cut off and dodging suddenly became a lot harder.

Hopping on my remaining leg, I couldn’t avoid the blow the First directed at my neck. He aimed for just above the metal band and my head went flying off into the crowd of imps. Screeching with laughter, they passed my head around like a football. Without my head to direct it, my body fell. The First let out a roar of triumph and proceeded to dismember me.

Despite my best efforts to avoid it, I was soon reduced to ruin. I was in a far worse state than when the Comtesse had ordered her guards to hack me to eleven pieces. This time, I was cut into dozens of pieces. My head was dropped, kicked a few times then booted back towards my body. Red tatters of leather littered the ground and I mourned the demise of my suit.

Panting with effort, the First leaned on his sword and flicked sweat away from his brow with a toss of his head.

“Are you done?” I asked him. His head whipped around at the sound of my voice then came to rest on my head. The mask was miraculously still tied around my face.

“How are you still alive?” he asked in bewilderment.

“Because I’m Mortis, numb nuts. Did you really think it would be that easy to kill me?” I sent his words back at him mockingly.

My shadow, still intact despite the fact that I was in pieces, stood beside my head. Apparently we were attached by our hair now instead of our feet. “We’re going to kick your arse,” it said with an audible if not visible sneer. Somewhere during the dismemberment, my shadow had regained its backbone.

The First recovered from his fright and barked out what I thought was probably a laugh. “How are you going to accomplish that when I have reduced your body to a jumble of torn flesh?”

“I learned a neat party trick a few months ago,” I told him with a cocky grin. “You’ll love this.” I sent the next thought to my shadow. Can you move my head closer to the rest of me?

“Ok,” it replied then drew back its foot and booted my head over to my hacked up body. It wasn’t quite the style of travel I’d had in mind but it did the job.

As soon as my head came to rest next to my remains, my body parts began to twitch uncontrollably. Before the First and his offspring’s eyes, my bits and pieces began to piece themselves back together. With each part that became reattached, I felt the usual flash of pain. Mercifully, the reattachment happened quickly.

In seconds, I was whole again, apart from my still missing hands. Sadly, I couldn’t say the same for my suit. When I stood, I was mostly naked. Considering I was surrounded by creatures that weren’t human anymore, I didn’t feel as awkward as I would have it they’d been vampires or humans. To the imps, my undead flesh couldn’t even be considered as food let alone as something desirable.

Red eyes bugging out of his grey head, the First was nearly apoplectic with fear and rage. “How is this possible?” he spat.

I shrugged, stalling for time. “I have no idea. I’m still waiting for the Mortis manual to be delivered.” Turning, I caught my shadow’s eye. Help me! I sent the frantic thought to it. I need to keep him occupied! Without my hands, I could only be hacked apart again. While it did buy the soldiers time, being chopped apart was rapidly losing its appeal for me.

Wringing its hands, my shade was almost gibbering in terror. “What do you want me to do? I can’t fight like you!”

Desperation was a powerful motivator and a crazy idea sprang into my head. If my shadow had the power to possess me then could the reverse also be true? Without stopping to think the idea over carefully, I sent my consciousness towards my silhouette. Sensing a link between us, I forced my senses into it.

Shuddering in reaction, my black clone let out a startled scream that echoed throughout the nearby area. Imps shuffled their feet uneasily, sensing that something strange had just happened. Some of those deep in slumber began to stir.

Opening my shadow’s eyes, it took me a couple of seconds to come to terms with my new vision. Instead of seeing semi-darkness and indistinct shapes, everything stood out with crystal clarity. My shadow had a form of night vision that humans could only dream of duplicating.

Understanding filtered through to the First as he realized what I’d just accomplished. He lifted his gigantic sword over his head and ran at me, bellowing incoherently. I’d managed to gain ascendency over my shadow and he wasn’t happy about it.

Both of my weapons were now on the ground. The straps to the sheaths had been cut during the First’s frenzy and one of the swords was still encased inside the hardened white leather. The other sword had been discarded by the First and lay several feet away. Flexing my borrowed hands, I stretched out both arms. They elongated, snatched up the weapons then retracted just in time to block a blow from the First’s much larger instrument of death.

My reach was far shorter than the First’s and he had an unfair advantage over me. At that thought, my shadow grew to match the size of my opponent. Now more evenly matched, I went into motion. Both swords became a silver blur as they streaked towards grey skin. Black blood spurted from deep cuts in the First’s arms, chest and abdomen.

Shrugging off the cuts, he swung his sword at me and I let it pass through my shadowy head. With a laugh that sounded hollow through my utterly black mouth, I whirled the swords in rapid circles in a flashy display of dexterity. “Prepare to die,” I told him darkly. Speaking through my shadow, the words came out in our dead father’s alien language.

Hoping I’d given Sanderson and his men enough time to break some of the humans free by now, I split my consciousness three ways as I launched my master plan into action.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Stealthy movement came from behind the bone throne as I used my shadow form to block and slice on automatic pilot. I wasn’t actually trying to kill the First with the swords. They were simply the distraction I needed to keep his attention diverted. Besides, his wounds healed almost as fast as mine did. It would take something much deadlier than mere metal to take this monster down.

Keeping to the shadows, Lefty and Righty moved towards their quarry. My secret plan had been to detach the appendages before we’d entered the cavern. Again, red lines had appeared where my wrists had previously been cut. My hands had popped free and had hitched a ride with me through the throng of imps before dropping to the ground. Skirting the edges of the cavern, they’d positioned themselves behind the throne. Now it was time for them to attack.

The First didn’t even feel it when my detached hands leaped up and grabbed hold of his loincloth. His sweat soaked skin was slippery but they doggedly made their way upwards. My quarry absently brushed at Righty when it paused for a second on his shoulder. It flattened itself down just in time to avoid the blow.

Distantly, I felt my face smiling. The First saw the smile and paused suspiciously. He knew I was up to something but couldn’t figure out what it was.

My hands, balanced precariously on the enemy’s shoulders, poised to leap the final distance. Then an imp onlooker spoke up. “Er, Father.” He lifted a clawed hand to point. “You have something on you.”

Turning his bald, batlike head, the First let out a bellow of fright when he spied Lefty on his shoulder. He began dancing in a circle, slapping and stabbing himself in a useless effort to dislodge my hands. Both held on, determined to reach their goal. Righty made a quick detour and poked the First in his eye. One of the red orbs that lit the immediate vicinity went out and the imp’s leader shrieked in pain and fury.

Whirling, he glared at me with his one remaining eye and lunged at my physical body with his sword, ignoring my armed shadow this time. The sword skewered me through the chest right between my breasts. My ribs cracked when the hilt rammed into them. The First’s face loomed over me. His breath washed over me, a stinking heat that blew my hair back from my forehead.

Concentrating harder than I ever had before, I manoeuvred Lefty and Righty into position. Poised on either side of the First’s head, balancing on the curled over tips of his ears, they flattened themselves out against his bald skull. Unleashing the power of the holy marks, I waited for his head to explode.

Wincing in anticipation of immense pain, the First lurched back, pulling his sword free from my flesh. Staggering back further, he stumbled into his throne. His children drew a collective breath. Time stretched out and nothing happened. Unlike every other vampire or imp that had received this treatment, his head didn’t implode. “Ah, crap,” I said quietly. So much for my grand plan. I was sure the holy marks would work. Why else did I have them? This was the greatest letdown I’d suffered as a vampire so far. Lefty and Righty abandoned ship, leaping to the ground and scurrying to safety.

“So, even the fabled Mortis does not have the power to destroy me,” the First gloated. He threw his head back and began to laugh. He laughed so hard he had to sit down on his grisly throne.

At first, I thought the tendrils of smoke coming from his mouth were just wishful thinking or maybe an optical illusion. Then he coughed and the tendrils became a cloud.

“What is happening to me?” Doubling over, he coughed again and a gout of black blood splashed to the ground. Sizzling, it ate its way through the dirt like acid.

“I’m pretty sure you’re dying,” I said hopefully. Lefty and Righty took the opportunity to flee to me and I knelt to reattach them.

It was taking longer than usual and wasn’t as spectacular as I’d expected but the First was definitely not well. Blood began to pour from every orifice in thick runnels, turning his throne black. He coughed out clots and wads of the essence that had kept him alive in one form or another for fifty thousand years. Just like the vamp I’d managed to cleanse of its vampirism in Japan, every scrap of the diseased substance leaked out through any means possible.

Sizzling and smoking, the blood boiled away and his hulking form began to fall in on itself. Screaming in pain and terror, the First beseeched me with his single remaining eye and held out a clawed hand. I felt no pity at all as the red light of his eye finally flickered then puffed out. His screams cut off at the same time, leaving behind a vast silence.

Only a withered husk was left of the First’s body when the ooze that had been his blood dissipated. Even that suddenly broke down to dust and became unrecognizable as having ever belonged to a living creature.

My swords unexpectedly dropped to the ground as my shadow began to shrink. I caught a fleeting feeling of gratitude from it as it became just another normal silhouette again. Now that the First was dead, the unnatural life that had powered my shadow was gone. That means the praying mantis and her cronies are also free from his possession.

Before I could properly process that thought, the first howl of grief and loss rang out. The imps had finally grasped the fact that their leader was dead. “Uh oh,” I murmured when the imps didn’t seem like they were about to go down with the First. I’d expected them to expire right alongside him. It was an assumption that I now regretted as ten thousand pairs of orange orbs turned to me accusingly.

I bent and picked up my swords as the closest imps attacked. My hands twirled into action even as I heard the first explosion that announced the soldier’s presence. Ten thousand slumbering monsters began to wake. My leather suit was in tatters but the neck band saved me several times from losing my head again as the nearest imps attacked.

A strange thing happened as I cut my way through the throng, a feeling of blood lust began to fill me. It wasn’t an urge to drink, it was an urge to kill, maim and rend. The vision I’d had of my three reflections drifted to me distantly. The imp blood that had been introduced into my system was finally starting to have an effect. I was turning into a remorseless killing machine just like the creatures I was currently slaughtering.

Piles of limbs and bodies lay around me, impeding not just me but the furious imps as well as I killed anything that came within my reach. Enraged beyond the ability to think, the imps fought to be the one to take me down. Instead, they just died beneath my blades.

With my enhanced hearing, I made out human shouts as the army began to attack in earnest. I hoped they’d managed to get at least some of the captives free before they’d begun setting off their explosives and firing their rockets. The thought drifted up from the blood lust clouding my mind and helped me to shake it off a bit. It gave me hope that I wouldn’t remain a mindless, murderous monster forever.

Unsure of what was happening, the imps milled around in confusion. Two of the monsters swung at me at the same time and ended up stabbing each other when I ducked. Howling in rage, one hacked the other’s head off. With that, nearby clones began to turn on each other.

I backed away from the fray and tripped over something. One of the young imps had crouched down behind me. They weren’t as mature as their parents but they had the same desire to maim and destroy. I was their target and they meant to have me.

My swords became slick with black ooze as I defended myself from the nasty and freakishly fast offspring. Overwhelmed by sheer numbers, I went down beneath a squirming pile of infants and half grown imps. Some mature imps joined the pile, grinding me into the ground. More and more piled on top of me until my bones began to shatter beneath their combined weight. I was being crushed beneath their mass and the pain was excruciating.

An imp baby wriggled its way through the pile, grinning widely. Pinned down, I could do nothing to defend myself as it latched onto my cheek with its tiny, razor sharp teeth. It worried at my face like a dog with a rat. Tearing my mask off, it bit through the flesh of my cheek down to the bone. It immediately made a face and spat my flesh out but the damage was already done. My acidic blood burned right through the creature’s flesh, dissolving its cheeks and mouth. It crawled away, coughing and hacking before falling onto its side.

More of my bones shattered as another couple of imps joined the pile. Shrieking in both pain and rage, the power of my holy marks began to build. Overflowing with power, I had to let it out before I could burst apart. Groping around with both hands, I made contact with grey flesh then released the pressure that had built up inside me.

The ground trembled then the mound of monsters still trying to squash or bite me exploded. It wasn’t just their heads that popped this time, their entire bodies were torn apart and flung into the air in pieces. Body parts rained down in a black, bloody shower. The baby that had been trying to bite my face off disintegrated completely.

Chapter Thirty-Three

By the time I sat up to survey the damage, my injuries had healed. Hanging from one ear, the red mask was a ruined mess, matching the rest of the suit.

Petrified that they would suffer the same fate, most of the offspring fled from me and ran directly into the firepower of the army. Rockets, gunfire and explosions rang out in a continual barrage of noise.

Searching through the body parts, I located my swords beneath the rent remains of several imps and waded into the fray. An unknown length of time later, I cut down one of the last remaining imps and found myself facing Colonel Sanderson. A small team of men surrounded him. Several of the soldiers held grenades ready. Dripping with the black gore of my transformed kin and dressed in just a few scraps of my red suit, I waited silently to see whether my allies were about to become my enemies.

“Colonel,” a soldier shouted from the distance, breaking the tense silence. “We’ve just finished off the last of them, sir!”

Eyeing me speculatively, Sanderson debated about the wisdom of attempting to blow me up then sensibly decided not to. “Stand down, men,” he ordered and the grenades were put away. After seeing what I could do and knowing how hard I was to kill, he really didn’t have much choice. I’d only regenerate and then he would have to face a very unhappy and vindictive vampire.

“Did you manage to save any of the captives?” I asked when he picked his way over to me through the piles of corpses. Aware of the stares at my mostly naked, gore streaked body, I picked up a loincloth that had fallen off one of the imps. Tattered and filthy, it was better than nothing so I wrapped it around myself like an extremely short towel.

Sanderson signalled to one of his men. Bright lights sprang to life, showing the carnage all too clearly. “You gave us enough time to get most of them out,” he said. “The creatures didn’t even know we were there until we began our attack.”

Suddenly alarmed, I turned to view the bonfires. “Did you see any vampires during the attack?” At his quizzical expression, I elaborated. “They would have been wearing dirty, ragged clothing and look like they hadn’t bathed in weeks.”

Recognition dawned. “They were vampires? We thought they were recently captured humans.”

“Don’t tell me they got away?” I groaned in real anguish. After all the time and energy I’d put into hunting down the praying mantis, she’d waltzed right out from under my nose. With the First dead, their shadows were no longer in possession of them. The courtiers would once more be forced to obey the Comtesse’s commands.

“Are they dangerous?” Sanderson asked me.

“Only to me and my friends,” I muttered. And any good looking humans the Comtesse stumbles across. Apparently, the white haired witch went both ways and chose both men and women to torment.

“I’ll set up a task force to hunt them down,” he decided. “There were only a hundred or so.”

“I wouldn’t bother if I were you,” I told him wearily. “The Comtesse is ancient, crafty and way smarter than either of us.” And how it galled me to admit that. “She’ll find somewhere to hide and you’ll die from old age before you’ll be able to find her.”

Disgruntled at my unflattering assessment of his abilities to take down the vampires, the American kicked a lump of grey flesh away in frustration. “Do you really expect me to do nothing when I know a pack of unholy blood suckers is roaming around Europe?”

“Yep,” I told him bluntly. “Leave us alone or I can guarantee you’ll end up dead.”

“Sir!” A soldier yelled in close to panic. “A vampire has turned himself in and is asking to speak to, er, her.” He pointed at me, eyes flicking to my makeshift clothing then to my swords and finally to my face.

Debating the wisdom of allowing an unknown vampire to approach, the Colonel finally nodded. “Bring him over but keep him covered.”

I had no idea why any of the surviving vampires would want to speak to me. As far as I knew, all of the Court vamps wanted me dead.

Before the courtier reached us, Sanderson asked me a question that made my hackles try to rise. “Are you aware that your eyes are glowing orange?”

Without a mirror handy, I couldn’t verify that for myself. Then I remembered I did have a mirror of sorts and raised one of the swords. Sure enough, my eyes were glowing again. “That happens when I fight sometimes,” I told the soldier. It does now anyway.

As the six soldiers escorting the vampire reached the perimeter of lights, I had my confirmation that he was a courtier. His once pristine black suit and white shirt were now dirty and torn. He’d lost his red cummerbund at some stage and it gave him a less formal look.

Ignoring the guns trained at his heart and head, the vamp pushed his way through the soldiers. Dropping to his knees before me, he bowed down low. “My Queen,” he said in a tone that was close to being worshipful. “I am yours to command.” If he’d noticed the strange colour of my eyes, he didn’t seem to be put out by it.

“Your Queen?” Surely I hadn’t heard him correctly. At best, I was a lady, not a monarch. “Who are you and why are you suddenly on my side?” I asked him suspiciously.

Sitting up and tilting his head back, he stared at me with shining black eyes. “I was one of the guards who was ordered to dismember your body, my Queen.”

Sanderson started and his soldiers exchanged glances. “Thanks for that,” I said dryly. “You have no idea how long it took me to put myself back together.”

“When I saw that you did not die as a normal vampire should, I knew you were the one fated to rule us.” His teeth were blindingly white against his dirty face as he smiled. “I was the one who arranged for you to be buried in consecrated dirt,” he explained. “Once I saw that it did not burn your flesh, I knew it would keep you safe from our kin.”

“It did come in handy,” I said grudgingly. He has no idea exactly how handy it was. “I guess you were the one who passed the graveyard map to Igor.”

“Yes,” he said humbly and lowered his gaze modestly. “I was aware that he and Lord Lucentio were allies.” And Luc thought they’d managed to keep that a secret. “It was my hope that Igor might also be your friend and that he might be able to break you free.”

In the end, I’d broken myself free but I appreciated his effort. “What’s your name?”

“Nicholas, my Queen.” Joy shone through him simply because I’d asked.

“It was a good plan, Nicholas.” I was going to have to correct him about my title but I didn’t want to embarrass him in front of the humans.

“There is something I believe you should see, my Liege,” he said and stood fluidly. Several of the soldiers guarding him started in fright and one came close to pulling his trigger. A headshake from the Colonel stopped him. He was clearly fascinated by our exchange.

“I discovered another cave when I managed to sneak away from the Comtesse and her followers for a short time,” my number one fan said.

As the vamp took off at a fast walk, Sanderson leaned down close as he gestured for his men to follow Nicholas. “Why does he keep calling you his Queen?”

“There’s a prophecy that was written a couple of thousand years ago,” I explained quietly. “It predicted my coming and that I’d end up sort of wiping out most of vampirekind.” There was no ‘sort of’ about it. I’d accomplished that very thing but hadn’t done it alone. The Colonel and his men had assisted me by cutting them down with their weapons. “Some of my kin seem to think I’ll end up ruling the remnants of our race.”

Studying me as well as he could in between stepping over body parts, Sanderson unconsciously hefted his gun as if contemplating gunning us both down. “Is that your plan?”

“Hell no!” I snorted without any air escaping from my nostrils. “I can barely rule myself let alone a bunch of vampires who are hundreds, if not thousands of years older than me.” To rule, you needed to have the respect of your people. I barely respected myself so how could I expect any of my kin to have any kind of esteem for me?

At the back of the cavern, some of the torches Sanderson’s soldiers had trained on Nicholas moved to the wall. A crack appeared like magic. “It is in there, your highness,” the vamp said and pointed at the opening.

Sanderson nodded at two of his men and they ducked inside. “It’s clear, sir!” one of them yelled. At the Colonel’s polite gesture, I bent and entered the fissure first.

Primitive markings covered the walls. The First had painted his history and his nightmares onto the walls of the small, lightless cavern. He’d drawn our father as a gigantic grey figure offering its wrist to him. Then he’d depicted his transformation from human to vampire and the blood and flesh hunger that had followed. If I hadn’t already known the history, the pictures would have been difficult to interpret.

Moving around the circular cave, I followed the story I knew well then stopped at a figure that Nicholas pointed to. It had once been bright red but had faded over thousands of years. From the mask covering the face, I knew it had to be me. In several paintings, I hunted the fleeing First. He’d depicted himself as a normal vampire so must have painted this before he’d become a hulking eight foot monster. At his full size, he’d never have been able to squeeze inside the tiny cave. I’d been his personal nightmare long before he’d been transformed. After he’d changed completely, he’d all but forgotten about me. Only a dim flash of the red mask had remained in his memory.

“When I saw these paintings, I knew you would best the First and save our race from destruction,” Nicholas said.

“What do you think this means?” Sanderson asked me from across the room before I could think of a response to the courtier’s confident statement.

Crossing the ground, I re-examined the painting I’d dismissed fairly quickly the first time I’d seen it. A bunch of stick figures had been scrawled on the wall. I couldn’t tell if they were humans or vampires. They’d been painted lying in neat horizontal lines. Above them was a brown line with a few green blobs. I had no idea what it meant and was ready to dismiss it again.

“It almost looks like bodies,” a soldier ventured. He pointed at the brown line. “This is meant to be the ground and these,” he pointed at the green blobs, “are plants.”

Once he pointed that out, I could see it for myself. A lone stick figure stood above the buried bodies and almost seemed to be laughing at them. Counting them, I came up with a total of ten. A sudden shiver went down my spine for no reason that I could put my finger on. I sincerely hoped it wasn’t a presentiment of further doom.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Dismissing the paintings as meaningless, Sanderson spoke into his radio. “Have the captives been evacuated?”

“Yes, sir,” came an instant response. “We’re ready to seal the cavern on your order.”

“I’d like to verify that the leader of these creatures has been destroyed before we leave,” the American said to me.

“I’ll take you to what’s left of him,” I offered. Sanderson nodded and we filed out of the smaller cave. Nicholas followed two steps behind me, forcing the soldiers to surround both of us when we entered the larger cavern again. Even in my head, I wasn’t shortening my number one fan’s name into a cute nickname. I was already disturbed enough by his level of devotion and didn’t want to endear me to him any more than necessary.

Working my way over to the bone throne, I pointed at the pile of dust at its base. Even squinting hard, it was impossible to tell that it had ever been a body. “There he is.”

“What did you do to him? He almost looks like he’s been burned to ash,” a soldier said in awe.

“My Queen unleashed the power of her holy marks on the despised one,” Nicholas said reverently.

“Don’t worry, it can’t hurt humans,” I told the men before they became even more frightened of me.

Satisfied that the monsters wouldn’t rise up again and attempt another round of world domination, the Colonel spoke into his radio. “All right, people, we’re done here. Team four, ready the explosives.”

I kept pace with Sanderson easily as he hurried across the vast cavern towards the tunnel leading to the surface. My unwanted sidekick stayed two steps behind me. He was acting as if he was a servant of my making and I was his true master. I had the uncanny feeling that he was staring at my butt. The loincloth was short enough that I was barely decently covered. When I glanced back, he gave me an innocent stare. I almost wished my shadow was still sentient so it could keep an eye on him. Then I remembered that it had watched me having sex with Luc numerous times and was glad it had reverted back to its natural state. My cheeks tried to burn with embarrassment but my blood wasn’t capable of rushing to my face anymore.

Colonel Sanderson’s men had been busy checking the bodies of the fallen to make sure none had been faking death. Gunshots had been ringing out in a steady stream but finally petered out. All of the imps had finally been put to rest.

The lights began to come down as we entered the tunnel. Men carried equipment out, rushing past us wearing night vision goggles or carrying torches. Only Nicholas and I didn’t need visual assistance during the journey to the surface. I scooped up my backpack from the mouth of the tunnel, glad to see it had survived the carnage.

Baking hot and stealing the breath that I didn’t have, the sun cast stark shadows on the ground when we reached the entrance. My eyes stung when briefly I glanced outside. “How did the vampires manage to escape without bursting into flames?” I asked the Colonel. Spying a soldier walking in a dazed circle, I rolled my eyes. “Never mind. Hey, you!” I shouted. “Get over here.”

The soldier was so completely under a vampire’s spell that he responded to me simply because I was another vampire. Jerking at the sound of my voice, he turned and shambled over to me. His face was completely devoid of anything resembling comprehension. Drool ran down his chin.

“It appears that the Comtesse herself took control of this human,” Nicholas said sadly. “I am afraid his mind has been destroyed.”

“We can do that?” I was appalled at the idea of being able to wipe our food’s minds clean. “There’s no hope for him then?”

My new minion shook his head. “I have never heard of mind repair being possible.”

Yeah? Well there’s never been anyone like me before. I was reluctant to give up on the human without trying to help him. “Hey, buddy,” I said to the hypnotized human. “Where did the vampires go? How did they get away?”

Shambling in a half circle, he lifted a hand and pointed at the row of armoured trucks. He moaned a series of words and my freaky brain even managed to interpret his gibberish. “He says they forced another pair of humans to be their drivers and stole two of the trucks,” I translated.

“You could understand his ramblings, my Queen?”

Despite knowing that I was the weird and freaky Mortis, Nicholas was still doubtful of my powers. Oh yea of little faith, I thought dolefully. This was one of the reasons I couldn’t see myself ruling anyone. How could I when they all thought I was an idiot?

“Yes,” I said in answer to his question. Maybe there was some hope for the poor human after all if he could still communicate. Drawing him back into the tunnel, I stared deep into his vacant eyes. At first he simply stared back at me blankly. Then his pupils contracted and I sensed that some intelligence had surfaced. “What’s your name?” I asked him.

“S-S-Sergei,” he said in thickly accented English.

“How do you feel, Sergei?”

Rubbing his cheek with a hand, he shook his head. “I was stuck in a well that was a thousand feet deep. I could see the light far above me but I could not reach it.” Blinking, he came out of his daze and stared at me in wonder. “Then your angelic face appeared and suddenly I was in the light again.” Grasping me by the shoulders, he yanked me forward and planted a wet kiss on both of my cheeks.

I had no idea how I’d done it but I’d broken him from the Comtesse’s hypnotism without putting him under my own spell. This was one of the times I was glad I had no idea what I was doing.

Nicholas uttered something close to a growl at the human mauling me but I waved him back. The soldiers who were supposed to be guarding him were staring at me in slack mouthed wonder.

“Do you remember helping the vampires to escape?” Sanderson asked the Russian.

Getting his gratitude under control, the soldier released me. “Yes. The white haired one appeared and captured me and two others with her soulless black eyes. She ordered my colleagues to back two of the trucks up to the cave entrance. I was ordered to advise anyone who asked that they were badly injured and needed immediate medical attention. When she was gone, a haze descended and I lost the ability to think.” Traumatized, the man was shaking at the memory of being bamboozled. I was pretty sure he would be ok now but he’d probably never be completely the same.

Now that the battle was over and the monsters were dead, I wondered what Sanderson had planned for me. He was about to blow the entrance to the cavern of doom so I couldn’t retreat back inside if things took an ugly turn. Since it was full daylight at the moment, it would be very bad for my health if I tried to run. Nicholas and I were at his mercy and we all knew it.

“Have one of the trucks backed up,” the Colonel ordered one of his men. “I’ll have the truck driven to an underground parking area then you and your…friend can stay safely indoors until nightfall.” Sanderson eyed Nicholas dubiously, trusting the vamp about as much as I did.

“Thanks,” I said and meant it. Call me cynical but I’d kind of expected him to order his men to cut us both down. He didn’t trust me and how could I blame him? I was a blood sucking monster that preyed on humans for food. It was his duty to murder me and I wasn’t about to turn my back on him.

I retrieved the black cloak and blanket from the mouth of the tunnel, glad to finally have something to put on over top of the tattered loincloth. I’d wait until I could clean myself up before donning one of my final two remaining outfits. The only part of the suit I did put on was the boots. If my bare feet touched the sun warmed ground, they’d probably melt right off.

A soldier found a blanket for Nicholas and my new bodyguard insisted on leaping the short distance into the open back of the truck first. When he gave me the ok, I followed him and we huddled in the shadows. Steam drifted from both of us for a few moments.

I wished I had a mobile phone so I could call Luc and tell him I was ok and that I’d won the battle with the First. It finally sunk in then; I’d won. Instead of dying horribly or being turned into a baby making machine that snacked on human flesh, I’d vanquished the leader of the imp army. With the help of the American and Russian troops, the grey clones had been utterly destroyed. We could now live out the rest of our unlives in peace. At that thought, I had a flash of my last two weird dreams and shivered. I had no idea what kind of omens they’d been and frankly I didn’t care. All I wanted was to see my friends again and enjoy a normal undead life for a while.

Chapter Thirty-Five

As promised, my new minion and I were driven directly to an underground facility. The heat of the sun baking off the metal that surrounded us cut off abruptly as we descended into coolness. When we’d travelled down two levels, the truck pulled to a stop.

After a short wait, the door swung open. Motioning me back, Nicholas jumped out first. He spread his arms wide just in case this was an ambush. Expecting treachery myself, I jumped out and landed behind him. Thankfully, we weren’t faced with dozens of gun wielding soldiers. Only one soldier was standing nearby. “Follow me, please,” he said politely in Russian.

We were taken up a flight of stairs then down a series of corridors. Finally, we were shown into a windowless room. There was a single cot, a basin and toilet. Basically, it was another prison cell. “Please remain inside this room,” the soldier requested. “Once night falls, you will be free to leave.” He came close to snapping a salute, hesitated then clomped off down the hall.

Testing the door handle, it moved easily so I pulled the door shut. It was made of much thinner metal than the last prison door that had barred my escape. I was pretty confident we’d be able to break out if we had to. Since the door didn’t lock after being shut, it was doubtful we’d have to resort to such measures.

I wasn’t crazy about sharing a room with a vampire I barely knew but Nicholas wasn’t at all uncomfortable. He stripped down to his undies and proceeded to clean off an accumulation of grime. Free at last of dirt, he ran his hands through his dripping hair and smiled at me.

Now that he was no longer covered in crud, I saw why he’d been chosen to be a courtier. His hair was dark brown, his skin was pale olive and his face could make horny women fight to the death just for one kiss. Then there was his body. He wasn’t overly tall but he was muscular. Almost too muscular. His thighs bulged and so did his package inside his tight underwear.

“I am afraid I can no longer resist the pull of the sun, my Liege,” Nicholas said.

Almost in a daze at his beauty, my response wasn’t very intelligent. “Huh?”

“I do not wish to leave you unprotected but I must sleep.” Moving over to the cot, he lay down, closed his eyes and turned back into the corpse he really was.

Drinking in his male perfection, I moved closer to the bed without even being aware of it. My hands hovered over his chest, about to caress his cold, pasty skin when I managed to snap out of it. My flesh hunger had risen and was raging out of control. “This is not good,” I whispered to myself. Luc flashed into my head and that helped a bit. I might have uncontrollable hungers but that didn’t mean I had to give in to them. In a few short hours I’d be back with my trusted companions again. Surely I could hold out for that long. A large part of me was glad Nicholas had turned into a corpse. Vampires in his current unanimated state tended to be unappealing.

Since I had a few hours to kill, I also used the basin. The single towel that had been provided was already dirty after Nicholas had used it but it was all I had. Spying a camera, I covered it with a fragment of loincloth. I wasn’t sure if it was real or just my imagination when I heard groans of disappointment echo from somewhere in the building.

Checking that Nicholas was still down for the day, I cleaned most of the crud off my skin before donning one of my suits. The water ran cold before I managed to wash all traces of ooze out of my hair. Squeezing most of the water out, I finger combed it and left it to slowly drip down my leather clad back.

Bored but reluctant to fall asleep and leave myself vulnerable, I paced up and down the small room. I wanted out of this cell and to be on my way again.

Moments after I felt the sun fall down for the night, Nicholas’ eyes sprang open and he sat up. Muscles rippled in his chest and stomach and I turned away before my flesh hunger could override my will and force me to jump the guy. I hadn’t been this desperate for sex since the first time the unnatural hunger had risen within me. Luc had reluctantly surrendered to it but had quickly changed his tune that sleeping with me was a bad thing. The three centuries of abstinence probably had more to do with his capitulation than any bedroom skill on my part.

“Are you ready to go?” I asked my new companion. I hadn’t heard any rustling of clothing but had been distracted with my thoughts. Turning, I found Nicholas standing right in front of me. My gaze instantly started to slide downwards. It jerked back up again when it reached his hips and encountered his snug tighty whities. “You have my permission to get dressed,” I said pointedly.

“As you wish, my Liege.” Somehow, he’d sensed my hunger and seemed disappointed that I wasn’t going to unleash it on him. Being a member of the Court, he was probably highly attuned to the hungers of the flesh.

“Well,” I said as he began to dress. “I guess this is where you and I part ways.”

Halting with his pants halfway up, Nicholas made a noise of protest. “But I am yours, my Queen. You own me body and soul.” He fell to his knees and clutched me around the waist. “Do not leave me to fend for myself against the Comtesse and her lackeys.”

His distress was either real or an extremely convincing act. I had to pull his face off my waist with both hands before he’d meet my eyes. “I don’t even know you, Nicholas. How do I know I can trust you?”

“Because you are all I have, my Queen,” was his starkly honest answer. “The Comtesse now knows that I am a traitor. I am masterless, friendless and alone.” If he’d still been able to produce them, tears would have been standing in his midnight black eyes.

Covering my face with both hands, I felt trapped and not just because he had his arms wrapped around me with panicky tightness. “Ok. Fine. You can come with me on one condition.”

“Anything, my Liege.” Gratitude shone from his beautiful face.

“Stop calling me ‘my Liege, my Queen and your highness’. I’m not anyone’s ruler.” Geordie would rupture himself with laughter when I told him about this. “My name is Natalie.”

A frown furrowed his perfect brow but he eventually nodded. “I will try, my…Natalie.”

“Good. Finish getting dressed, I want to get out of here before they decide to riddle our corpses with bullets.”

Footsteps approached shortly after Nicholas pulled his jacket on. He’d left his filthy shirt on the ground, deeming it to be unfit to wear. His chest and abs were displayed each time he shifted and I forced my attention towards the door.

I was ready for anything when it swung open. I was surprised to see that Colonel Sanderson himself had come to see us off. His expression was gravely formal. To my relief, he wasn’t pointing a bazooka at us. I wasn’t sure even I’d be able to survive one of those. I’d seen the remains of the imps that had been targeted and they’d been melted lumps of blackened meat.

Sanderson offered me his hand and I took it, careful not to crush any of his bones as we shook. “On behalf of the human race, I’d like to thank you for your assistance at putting an end to the monsters.”

“No problem, Colonel. Call me anytime strange creatures rise up and try to take over the world.” I meant it as a joke but he nodded solemnly. “I guess Nicholas and I should be going now.”

“This way, I have a vehicle ready for you.” We followed the Colonel downstairs to the parking area. A dark blue, nondescript sedan was waiting for us. “No offense, Natalie, but I hope we never meet again,” the American said with all seriousness when we reached the car.

“Yeah, me too.” If we did, it would either be due to some other kind of disaster or because he’d decided to eradicate me and my kind.

Nicholas insisted on driving so I climbed into the passenger seat. I waved to Sanderson and he lifted his hand in response. His expression was hard to read but I believed it was a mixture of relief and regret. It was the regret that bothered me. He’d had three vampires in his clutches and had let us all go instead of keeping us to see how and why we ticked. His government would probably be less than happy with him for allowing us to go our merry way.

I kept checking to see if we were being followed as the kilometres passed but I didn’t spot a tail. My new minion followed my general directions and we ended up back in the large town where my friends were hopefully still safe and sound.

“Stop here,” I said and Nicholas eased into a parking space. “We’ll go the rest of the way on foot.” There was a good possibility the car was bugged so we it was only sensible to leave it behind. We sprinted the last few kilometres to the small and shabby hotel.

Sending out senses that were no longer blocked, I located four vampires on the second floor. With Nicholas at my back, I took the stairs and pounded on Gregor’s door. It was yanked open a second later and Luc’s relieved face was the first thing I saw. I grinned at him then rudely pushed him aside and entered.

Yanking Nicholas in after me, I gave my friends a quick explanation. “Everyone, this is Nicholas, just in case you don’t already know him.” Geordie’s upper lip lifted, indicating he did know the newest addition to our group and that he didn’t like him very much. Igor gave the courtier a cautious nod. Gregor’s face was uncharacteristically blank, hiding his emotions. “Nicholas is the guard who buried me in consecrated dirt and gave Igor the map,” I elaborated. “He’s on our side so play nice.”

Geordie opened his mouth but I’d run out of time to stick around and answer his questions. I had to do something about my flesh hunger or I was going to embarrass myself horribly.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Grabbing Luc’s hand, I tugged him out into the hallway and sped up the stairs to the fourth floor. He wore a bemused smile as I waited impatiently for him to unlock the door. “I take it your flesh hunger has risen?”

“In the worst kind of way,” I confirmed. “You’d better take your pants off quick or I’m going to tear them to shreds,” I warned him. I reached back and struggled to undo the laces of my suit. By the time the leather suit hit the floor, Luc was already lying on the bed crooking a finger at me invitingly.

Leaping through the air, the bed groaned in alarm when I landed in a crouch over Luc. He braced himself an instant before I enveloped him and I began to ride him hard and fast. Dents appeared in the wall as the bedhead slammed into it repeatedly. One of the legs buckled and we were tossed to the floor. Luc rolled until he was on top and winced when my legs slid up around his waist. I eased up on the pressure and he rewarded me by dipping his head and taking a breast into his cold yet talented mouth.

“I missed you, Ladybug,” he mumbled then nipped me almost hard enough to break the skin.

“Me, too.” I groaned then tried not to snap him in half with my legs as he thrust even harder and deeper. If I’d still been alive, my back and butt would have burst into flames from carpet burn.

He nipped my other breast then sucked it deep into his mouth and that was enough to push me over the edge. My girly parts almost sighed with relief when my first orgasm hit me. Several more rockets went off before Luc finished up and slumped over my inert body.

“Did I break anything this time?” I hadn’t heard any bones snapping but I’d been distracted by my own need.

Rolling onto his side, Luc went up onto one elbow with his face resting in his hand. “Only a couple of my ribs.” From the quiet pops and crackles, they were already healing. “You were very gentle considering your level of need.”

“I was pretty desperate,” I admitted sheepishly.

“Why did you not sate your flesh hunger on Nicholas?” Luc studied me calmly, unaware how badly his question stung.

“Do you want me to use other guys for sex?” I asked him bluntly. We’d never had the discussion whether we were exclusive or not. We weren’t exactly dating in the conventional sense of the word.

Circling my nipple with his fingertip, he shook his head. “I very much do not want you to share yourself with anyone else. I was simply wondering why, after I betrayed you countless times with the Comtesse, you did not return the favour.”

My face scrunched up at hearing he’d had sex ‘countless’ times with the praying mantis. “I guess I’m just not built that way. Nicholas is very pretty but you’re the one I’m in lo-” I broke off my confession before I could finish it.

“You do love me,” Luc said with a smile then leaned down to plant a kiss on my forehead. “I am glad that you feel the same affection for me that I do for you.”

Our moment of near perfect happiness was spoiled when a phone began to ring. Luc snatched up his pants and pulled out his mobile phone. “It’s probably Geordie complaining we were too loud again,” I said snidely.

“Hello?” my companion said cautiously after checking the number and not recognizing it.

“Lord Lucentio, please put Natalie on the phone,” a female voice with an Asian accent said.

“How did you get this number?” Luc asked even as I held out my hand for his phone.

“Natalie will explain everything in a moment.”

He handed me the phone and I held it to my ear. “Hi, Kokoro,” I said before she could speak.

“Have you now also become a Prophet?” she asked me.

“No, I recognized your voice. You have excellent timing, by the way,” I told her dryly.

I heard the smile in her voice as she replied. “I thought I would let you finish before I called.”

Covering my face with my spare hand, I tried not to become completely overwhelmed by humiliation. “What can I do for you?” I asked her pointedly.

All humour fled and she answered me seriously. “I had a vision a short time ago and felt that I should warn you immediately.”

“What did you see?” I so very badly did not want to know the answer to that. I had taken down the bad guy, my job should now be done.

“Do you remember me telling you of the First’s ten followers?”

“The ones he had a falling out with and ended up banishing?”

“Yes. It seems he didn’t just banish them but had a fate far, far worse than that in store for them,” Kokoro said gravely. The memory of the cave painting with the ten stick figures beneath the ground surfaced. “In my vision,” she explained, “his ten followers had grown jealous of his power. They plotted against him, planning on killing him and assuming control over all vampires.”

“Everyone wants control over all vampires,” I muttered. Everyone except for me, that was.

“They almost succeeded,” Kokoro continued. “If the First hadn’t been so paranoid by then, his followers might even now be running a vast empire of our kind.”

“I saw a picture the First had painted in his lair and it looked like he ordered them to bury themselves,” I said uneasily. “It looked like their punishment was to slowly starve to death.” It was a horrible fate for any creature but especially cruel for beings that could take centuries to die.

“Yes, that was his plan. What he didn’t know is that they didn’t die. The alien blood in their veins is still strong and has sustained them for all this time.”

I tried to imagine why this vision had caused her to call me in a panic. Then a chill went up my spine. “Now that the First is dead, they aren’t bound by his orders anymore, are they?”

“I am afraid not,” she said gravely. “They are already beginning to wake after forty thousand years of slumber. When they rise, they will hunger for both blood and flesh. Soon, they will create a plague of stronger, faster vampires whose blood is far more virulent than ours. It took centuries for the First and his ten followers to gain control of their hungers. The new fledglings will have the same lack of restraint. I fear the humans will face another catastrophe and this time their guns and explosives won’t be enough.”

“Why not?”

“They will simply not be quick enough to keep up with our new kin when they attack.”

“They’ll need my help again,” I concluded and felt the weight of responsibility I’d only just thrown off settle around my narrow shoulders again.

“They will require all of our assistance,” she corrected me. “The Emperor would like to speak to you.”

After a short pause, a young male voice was speaking to me. “Natalie, congratulations on your success at dispatching the First.”

“Thanks, Emperor.” I was genuinely pleased to speak to the kid again but the circumstances weren’t exactly ideal. “So, do you want to come to our place or should we come to yours?”

“I believe it would be safest for us all to meet somewhere in the middle.” At ten thousand years old, Ishida was far wiser than the twelve year old kid he appeared to be.

“I’ll have a chat to my team and see if they can think of somewhere safe we can meet. By the way, the suit was fantastic during the fight.”

“I knew it!” he said enthusiastically. “What shape is it in now?”

“It’s a complete write off,” I admitted with regret. “I have one black suit left now and its holding up ok.”

“I will have replacements made for you,” he promised. “Call this number when you have chosen our meeting place.”

“Ok. Bye.” I was pleased that he trusted me enough to find a suitable location. The Japanese vamps had been conditioned to believe that all Europeans were their enemies. I wasn’t European but they’d still lumped me into that category when we’d first met.

Luc was waiting with one eyebrow raised when I handed him back the phone. “I take it that destroying the First has somehow unleashed yet another problem?” He’d overheard the conversation but he didn’t know the complete story yet. It would be my distinct displeasure to fill him in.

“You could say that. Let’s join the others and I’ll explain everything.” Climbing to my feet, I dressed in some of the clothing I’d left behind in the room. The bed was destroyed and cracks had developed in the walls but I had a feeling we weren’t going to be here for much longer anyway.

If Kokoro’s vision was right, ten mummified, starving vampires were about to rise up from the earth and I had no idea where they’d been buried. Our mission would be to locate them and take them down before they could create an army of infectious, rabid vampires.

Don’t worry, I reassured myself, pretty soon the news will be full of sudden mass disappearance of humans again. That would be our first clue of where the new threat was located.

I’d thought that killing the First would be the end of my battles but I’d been wrong. Death, the deceitful bitch, had more in store for me. It will never be over, I mourned. I’d have to keep on killing until every last threat on the planet was gone.

One of the visions I’d had recently tickled the back of my brain. I’d sensed something incredibly ancient and infinitely hungry buried beneath the earth. If the vision was true, then I at least had an inkling of where the new threat would soon arise. It looks like I’ll get to travel to yet another country I’ve never been to.

Being Mortis had already taken me far from my homeland of Australia. Just how far would I have to travel before this would all finally be over?

If you are like me, your time is valuable and I am very glad you enjoyed this novel enough to read it through to the end. As you no doubt know, reviews are an excellent tool to help new readers find my work and decide if the book is for them. I would very much appreciate it if you would take a brief moment to click on the link below and leave a review:

Death Deceives

Also by J.C. Diem in the Mortis Series:

Death Beckons

Death Embraces

Death Devours